ROME – The Saturday night massacres, which increasingly involve young people in their early twenties who drive their cars at night after spending the evening with friends, are becoming a real scourge. If young age and lack of driving experience are already in themselves factors that influence the risk of accidents, in the case of the weekend massacres they are further amplified by night driving and the cheerful atmosphere that is created among peers, above all if the elbow is raised too much. And it is precisely to stem the growing accident rate linked to these risks that the deputy of Italia Viva Ettore Rosato presented to the Chamber a bill that prohibits drivers under the age of 21 and those who have acquired the B license for less than 3 years of carrying more than one passenger from midnight to 5 in the morning.
The new article 186-ter of the Highway Code proposed by the parliamentarian provides that in the event of violation of the law, the driver is punished, ”where the fact does not constitute a more serious offence, with a fine ranging from 800 to 3,200 euros and with the ‘arrest up to six months”. ”In any case, the accessory administrative sanction of suspension of the driving license from 6 months to 1 year follows the ascertainment of the offence”.
Furthermore, ”the driving license is always revoked in the event of a recurrence in the two-year period”. If instead, in the event of a violation, the young driver causes a road accident, the penalties ”are doubled and the vehicle is placed under administrative detention for 180 days, unless the vehicle itself belongs to a person not involved in the offence”. Furthermore, the competence to judge crimes is assigned to the ”single-member tribunal” and it is specified that ”the provisions relating to accessory sanctions also apply in the event of the application of the penalty upon request by the parties”.
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The new article 186-ter also states that if the vehicle ”cannot be driven by another suitable person, it can be transported to the place indicated by the interested party or to the nearest garage and left in the hands of the owner or manager of it with the normal guarantees for custody”. And that ”the costs for recovery and transport are entirely borne by the transgressor”. Finally, it is prescribed that ”a quota equal to 30% of the fine imposed with the sentence is destined to feed the Fund against night accidents”.
But it’s not just Italy that is thinking about forms of deterrence to unsafe driving. The UK is also considering legislation to prevent novice drivers under the age of 25 from giving their young friends lifts in their first year of driving licence. Even if in fact these young novice drivers represent only 6% of drivers in the country, they are involved in one in five serious or fatal accidents.
However, there is still nothing official about these new measures that could be taken by the British government. However, these issues will be addressed this month in the context of the discussion in Parliament on the revision of the highway code.
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