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Italian city of Bologna to cut speed limit to 30 km/h

Bologna will become the first city in Italy to introduce a 30 km/h speed limit, councillors announced on Wednesday, saying the change will save lives and reduce pollution.

Published: 2 November 2022 15:32 CET

Italian city of Bologna to cut speed limit to 30 km/h

The city of Bologna in northern Italy will join Paris and cities across Spain in reducing the urban speed limit to 30 kilometres per hour. Photo: JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT/AFP

The city of Bologna will cut the speed limit on its roads to 30 from June 2023 after the council approved the rule change on Wednesday, with those backing the plan saying it will slash emissions and improve road safety.

The new limit will apply to almost all roads in the city, according to reports in Italian media, including those in the old town (centro storico).

“We want Bologna to be a frontrunner at the national level on road safety,” City mayor Matteo Lepore told local media on Wednesday. “I hope the government sees Bologna as an example and starts talking about this.”

The League party, which is led by new infrastructure and transport minister Matteo Salvini, however recently criticised Bologna’s plan to cut the speed limit, reportedly saying the move would make life harder for residents and create “more traffic and fines”.

Bologna will join other European cities including Paris in implementing the lower speed limit as part of efforts to lower emissions and improve safety.

READ ALSO: How visitors to Italy can avoid driving penalties

Spain introduced a 30km/h speed limit in all urban areas in 2021, and there is growing support for a similar law in Germany.

According to the World Health Organisation the risk of death to a pedestrian hit by a car driven at 50 km/h is 80 percent. The risk drops to 10 percent at 30 km/h.

The speed limit on roads in Italian towns and cities is generally 50, and on the autostrade (motorways) it’s 130.

Many Italian residents are dependent on cars as their primary mode of transport. Italy has the second-highest motorisation rate in Europe with 670 vehicles per 1,000 residents, second only to Luxembourg with 682, according to statistics agency Eurostat.

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Why Italian drivers are swapping their plates for Polish ones

Foreign licence plates aren’t exactly a rare sight in Italy, but should you happen to see one or more cars with Polish licence plates in the country it may not be down to a wave of road trippers from eastern Europe.

According to a recent report from public broadcaster Rai’s news programme Far West, a growing number of motorists in Italy are swapping their Italian plates with Polish ones, with the trend being particularly widespread in Naples, where some 35,000 vehicles have a foreign targa (that’s over 65 percent of the total number of foreign-plate vehicles in Italy).

But as Italian media have already dubbed Campania’s capital “Warsaw’s outskirts”, exactly what is behind the trend?

The surge in Polish-registered vehicles is reportedly down to an emerging insurance evasion tactic which sees motorists dodge Italy’s steep insurance costs by having their car or motorcycle registered in another EU country, with Poland being the most popular choice.

According to data from Italy’s insurance supervisory authority IVASS, insurance costs in Italy have risen by some 7.6 percent over the past year, with Italian motorists currently paying 27 percent more than the average EU resident to insure their vehicle.

And while a large number of Italians are not paying for insurance at all – an estimated 2.6 million vehicles are currently circulating in the country without the mandatory RC (Responsabilita’ Civile) coverage – many have seemingly opted to outsource insurance to lower their yearly bill.

READ ALSO: How to pay Italian traffic fines from abroad

According to a report from Il Corriere della Sera, an increasing number of motorists are removing their cars from Italy’s Public Register of Motor Vehicles (PRA) and selling them to Poland-based rental companies only to then have them leased back to them as part of standard car lease agreements.

This can lead to significant savings. For instance, while overall insurance costs for a scooter may exceed 1,500 euros a year in some parts of Italy, insurance on a scooter leased from Poland generally costs between 600 and 800 euros for the first year and from 300 to 350 euros a year for the following years.

But, while the tactic may be legal – as of March 2022 Italian residents can legally drive vehicles registered elsewhere in the EU as long as they’re not the owners and meet a number of conditions – it may potentially result in serious consequences further down the line, especially in the event of accidents.

READ ALSO: How can you lose your driving licence in Italy?

Insurance broker Salvatore Vitagliano told TV programme Far West that “it may take months if not years” for someone driving a vehicle with foreign insurance to receive compensation following an accident.

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