We called the 106 prefectures of Italy asking: (i) what are the terms for appealing to the prefect against a fine for violating the highway code; and (ii) what are the procedures for making such an appeal. According to the highway code, it is in fact possible to contest a fine by appealing to the prefect.[1] The appeal must be forwarded to the prefecture of the place where the violation occurred within 60 days of the dispute or notification by means of a registered letter with return receipt, certified e-mail (PEC) or by going in person to the prefecture.[2]
The experiment
To obtain answers to the questions we followed the same procedure for all prefectures. We called the Public Relations Office (URP) during the opening hours shown on the dedicated websites; if an address is not available, we have instead called the generic switchboard. It should be noted that URPs are generally only open in the morning, which, in itself, represents an obstacle to receiving quick answers. It was decided to contact the URPs because, according to what is reported on the prefectures’ websites, they should be the meeting point with citizens, to guide them and facilitate them in accessing the services offered, providing them directly with services and information or directing them to the offices responsible for doing so.
The URPs (or switchboards) of each prefecture were called a maximum of three times, recording the information on the number of calls needed before being answered.[3] The quality of the information received (if received!) Was then classified as:
- “adequate” if the answer was accurate for both questions;
- “intermediate” if the answer was accurate for one question and imprecise for the other;[4]
- “insufficient” if an imprecise answer was given to both questions, or, frequently, if no one answered the phone calls despite the three attempts.[5]
Results
The prefectures can be divided into three groups (Table 1):
- The first is made up of 42 prefectures (about 40 per cent of the total) with completely insufficient answers (last column of table 1). For 37 of these it was not possible to receive an answer (vertex at the bottom right of the table), while 5 prefectures gave inaccurate answers (first two cells of the last column of the table).[6] This category includes the prefectures of all the first seven Italian provinces in terms of number of inhabitants (Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Genoa and Palermo), except Turin. These 42 provinces cover about half of the Italian population.
- The second group includes the 19 prefectures, whose provinces represent almost 14 per cent of the Italian population, which have provided information of intermediate quality. The answers received from these, although imperfect, were obtained at the first attempt from 12 prefectures, while in the remaining cases two or three telephone calls were necessary.
- The third group is made up of the prefectures who gave an adequate answer (first column), although not all of them on the first attempt. There are 45 prefectures whose provinces represent 35 percent of the Italian population. Of these, the best are 29 prefectures (covering nearly 23 percent of the population) that provided accurate information on the first try. In 16 cases it was instead necessary to call two or three times.
THE REPLY OF THE SINPREF TRADE UNION: WE UNDER THE STAFF
All in all, the room for improvement is enormous. The fact that responses to the first attempt and of adequate quality have been received from prefectures that cover only 23 per cent of the Italian population is clearly insufficient. The shortcomings appear to be uniformly distributed on the national territory, with no particular differences between macro-regions.
[1] An appeal against a fine can also be presented to the Justice of the Peace, but following a different procedure.
[2] Articles 203 and 204 of the Highway Code.
[3] If a call was forwarded it was not counted as a new call.
[4] An example of an inaccurate response is to indicate in 30 days, instead of 60, the deadline for submitting the appeal (this is the deadline for appealing to the Justice of the Peace), or suggesting only one between registered letter and PEC as a possible method of forwarding.
[5] The replies to the prefectures’ websites were also considered insufficient. When making calls, the telephone was left to ring until the line was dropped, or in any case for a maximum of 5 minutes.
[6] Among the 37 prefectures from which it was not possible to get an answer, for 11 the phone rang empty, for 5 it was always busy, for 21 the calls gave rise to a series of completely inconclusive forwardings.
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