Five facts
you need to know about traffic violations, ticketing and fines in Italy:
1) Local authorities around the world generate a significant
proportion of their revenue from fines levied for infractions of
various non-penal laws, notably driving regulations. This happens
nowhere more than in Italy where many individuals and firms pay
less income, sales and other taxes than they should so that local
government seeks other sources of revenue.
2) A few years back, very reliable, inexpensive road-side speed
monitoring camera systems were put on the market. These photograph
the driver and the car license plate, and record the speed and
location of the car. They are therefore effectively
machines that print money for local government. Where previously
traffic police had to be in place and to be paid to catch traffic
offenders, this can now be done automatically with, in Italy (and
elsewhere), an
almost 100% acceptance by the courts should the evidence be
challenged.
3) Most Italian cities are not adapted to huge volumes of
vehicular traffic and efforts have been made one way or another to
reduce this volume. In Florence and Pisa (and many
other towns) there are a number of zones
covering the historical and hotel district where cars with
special permits only may enter. The cars rented out by car rental
agencies do not have these permits. You must therefore take the
necessary steps to obtain an exemption each day you drive to your
hotel within a restricted zone. (See "Limited Traffic
Zones" below).
4) In Italy, the authorities have up to one year
after they
have obtained the offender's details
to issue a
traffic ticket
to an offender in a foreign country (unlike in
Germany, for example, where there is a three month limit). Italian
bureaucracy being what it is, the ticket usually does take
a year or more to arrive. The recipient of the ticket has 60 days to pay
or appeal. If you don't pay, the amount is doubled.
Italians usually pay and then appeal.
5) Car rental agencies are obliged to and always do provide the
traffic authorities with the name and address of the individual
who rented the offending car. They charge the credit card of the
renter a significant amount of money for doing this - sums ranging
from 16 up to 50 euros have been mentioned. Many tourists who see
this charge assume that it is payment of the fine itself, but that
is not necessarily the case.
It also seems that
most car rental agreements allow the rental company to pay the
fine and charge your card for the fine. There is always an
additional 20% sales tax (IVA) and there can be hefty late fees as
well. Note that in some cities (such as Florence, Bologna and Rome), the
traffic authorities request the renter's information via an electronic system
where the reason for the request is not specified. You will be
charged for this information transfer. It is likely but by no
means inevitable that a fine will follow.
Before the introduction of these machines, traffic police had a
certain amount of discretion and rarely if ever fined a tourist
for driving in a restricted zone to his hotel. In certain
neighbouring countries that depend heavily on tourism - I won't
name them on this web site - the police are SPECIFICALLY
INSTRUCTED not to fine tourists for trifling infractions when the
tourists' intentions are good. Unfortunately, to date, the local
authorities in major tourist destinations in Italy have not seen
the wisdom of this approach or at least have not thought of a way
to implement it in a practical manner. Indeed, the apparition of EMO
(see below) suggests that they regard fining tourists for driving
to their hotels as a legitimate method to augment their coffers.
Personally, I think they have not correctly assessed the costs and
benefits, but I have never yet heard of a local authority anywhere
in the world that gave up a good source of revenue except under
intense public pressure.
What to do about it if you are ticketed and fined?
First - be aware that handling fees, bank transfer fees and late
fees rapidly add up to much, much more than the fine itself. In
addition, for some traffic fines, if you challenge and lose, you
have to pay double the original sum. If you are
still in Italy, take a speeding or parking ticket to any post
office and pay it. The amount varies (35 euros for parking in
the wrong place at the wrong time, 150 euros for speeding - that kind of
thing) but will surely cost less than any challenge you
might mount. If you were en route to or from your hotel in a
restricted zone and received a ticket from a traffic officer, discuss it first with your hotel.
If you were photographed doing the same thing and receive the
ticket months later, there is one procedure you can try:
contact the hotel at which you stayed, provide them with the details
identifying your ticket and the infringement, and ask them to fax
the relevant authorities (with a copy to you) explaining that on the
specified day you stayed in their hotel and hence were permitted to
pass through the ZTL. See
"Limited Traffic Zones" below.
Non-EU
residents
Not to pay a fine that is sent directly to you at your home outside
the EU (as opposed to having been paid by the rental car company
and then charged to your card)? Probably a bad idea. If you don't
pay, the rental company will eventually pay the fine plus the late
fees and pass that on to you via your credit card company. Note
that
A designated debt collection agency called EMO
("European Municipal Outsourcing" - don'tcha love it? www.emo.nivi.it)
is following up these fines. If you were staying at a hotel
within a ZTL on the day of your infringement and EMO is handling
collection, you could ask your hotel to contact EMO confirming that.
You yourself should also provide EMO with the relevant details.
Note that it won't help for you to cancel your credit card when
you return home. The date on which you signed your rental agreement and gave your credit card details
to the rental company will predate your cancellation and the car
contract will still be honoured by the credit card company who,
one way or another, will extract this money from you.
EU
residents
Friends - for you life became even harder in March 2007 when EU
regulations were implemented such that your local vehicle
registration authority can and will cooperate with the authorities
in other EU countries to locate you and deliver the citation. It
is unclear whether they will assist in collecting the fine, but
the use of debt collection agencies cannot be ruled out (see EMO
above).
Note that this means that the traffic authorities can and will trace
offenders who were driving their own cars. Until now, you had
to be in a rental car and be traced via the rental car company.
Everyone
Regarding fines paid by the rental car company and charged to your
card: neither your card company nor the car rental companies will
assist you unless you can prove that it was not you driving the
car, or that you were nowhere near the area and that it was
therefore not your rental car. You are assumed guilty unless
proven otherwise (as with traffic offenses world-wide). Many municipalities provide access via their
web sites that enable you to see the relevant photographic and
other evidence, if they do not send it to you. If it's not you in the photo, a challenge will
succeed.
The policies of the various
rental car companies vary with regard to paying fines and in the case
of Autoeurope, which is a consolidator, might depend on where they
got the car.
How to pay a fine:
As noted above, if you are fined while still in Italy, take the
payment form that comes with the citation to the Post Office and
pay there. The processing charge is very low - one euro or less.
Many POs close at 12.30 and don't re-open. In some cases, you can
pay the traffic policeman directly and he will issue a receipt
that puts you in the clear.
If you are back home and the dreaded registered letter arrives, EU
residents and anyone living in a country where IBAN numbers
are used can login to their bank account and pay directly to the
bank account given in the citation. There will probably be some
identifying material (citation number, car license plate number)
that you should enter into the Reason for Payment or Comments
field. Intra-EU transfers are fairly inexpensive, especially when
using a PO bank account, and they are being forced lower.
If you live in areas where IBANs are not in use (this
includes the USA), you'll need to go to your bank and make an
inter-bank
transfer (a "wire") or, if the citation came from EMO, go to their web
site, log in using the information provided in the letter they
send and pay by one of the
methods they offer. It's reported that they accept VISA and
Mastercard payments.
How to avoid being fined in the first place:
Speeding. This is quite easy to resolve as far as the very
numerous speed cameras dotted along the motorways and country
roads go. Know what the speed limit is and keep your speed within
that limit as far as this is reasonable. Watch for the warning
sign (an actual and prominent sign on the side of the road -
below, left) and the white
stripes on the road itself, and slow down as you pass the camera
(all Italians do this).
The latter is housed in a large grey box and is easy to see
(below, right). Aside from generating revenue, this is the actual
purpose of these cameras - to slow traffic down, if not
everywhere, then at least frequently.
Speed
camera warning sign |
Speed
camera housing |
Other common offenses are parking
in restricted parking zones contrary to the rules
and driving
in bus lanes.
Take the trouble to look for, read and understand the parking
signs. Almost all towns of any size in Tuscany have these parking
restrictions in their historical centres. Try to use the parking
areas (usually metered or with a custodian) provided near the entry points. In
many cases the latter are well thought out and convenient (at
Arezzo and Sansepolcro, for example).
Limited Traffic Zones
- ZTL
(Zona a Traffico
Limitato)
are a
problem.
These zones are areas where cars with special permits only
are allowed to drive and are found in many Italian cities and
towns. The signs are present at the limits of the zones but not within
them, so that if you
miss the sign you don't get a second chance. In addition, they
sometimes apply only to certain hours on working days. Pisa is notoriously tricky - I recommend not
driving in the city centre of Pisa at all. In Florence it is crucial to be aware of the ZTL signs and
restrictions. Failure to
abide by the rules will cost 80 euros or more each time you enter one of these areas.
Click
here
for the Florence ZTL map
It is permissible to drive to a hotel within the restricted
traffic zones
or to a parking garage, but
IT IS IMPERATIVE that the hotel or
garage communicates your license plate number to the traffic
authorities. Do not assume that this will be done - ask them to make the call and then check later that it was made.
My advice is to ask your hotel about this before you arrive. If
they appear not to have experience in this sphere, then don't
drive in town at all. Use a taxi and rent a car from a location
outside the ZTL for excursions into the country. If you are
arriving by car from elsewhere, park outside the restricted zone
and walk or use a taxi to reach your hotel.
Other peculiarities of Florence: blue lines indicate open
(but very likely metered) parking. Do not park where there are white lines. These
areas are reserved for residents and those with special parking
permissions.
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