Anas, for one in two Italians exceeding speed limits is not dangerous

According to 51% of Italians, it is not dangerous to exceed speed limits. Only 34.7% consider it useful to respect them, while 16.4% believe that an expert driver can exceed them. This is the snapshot of the fourth edition of the survey on users' driving styles commissioned by Anas, a company of the FS Group, conducted by CSA Research - Centro Statistica Aziendale, with interviews on a sample of 4 thousand people and over 3,500 direct observations on the road. The survey was presented today at the international conference 'Road Safety: Target Zero Victims' organised by Anas, Piarc (World Road Association), under the patronage of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and in collaboration with the Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety - United Nations and the EuroMed Transport Support Project, on the occasion of the World Day in Remembrance of Road Victims.

Of those surveyed, 11.4 per cent believed that 'one could do something else' while driving, while only 55.4 per cent of the sample were convinced that road accidents are due to incorrect behaviour. 60.1 per cent of those surveyed believe that the Highway Code, which is now before Parliament for final approval, is useful. Only 72.5% think that alcohol and drugs are always dangerous while 8.4% believe they are irrelevant to driving.

Mobile phone use while driving improves: 7.4% compared to 9.6% in 2023 and 10.3% in 2022. The under-40s, however, make the figure worse: 9.9% use it against 5.6% of the over-60s.

"The data that emerged this year from the Anas Research on Driving Styles," said CEO Aldo Isi, "demonstrate the need for ever greater investment in road education and awareness of risks and dangers at the wheel. In addition to a great commitment to continuing to raise users' awareness of the importance of prudent, safe and distraction-free driving, Anas is working to further enhance the safety standards of its network by guaranteeing, as always, ordinary infrastructure maintenance but also focusing on technological innovation. Investments in scheduled maintenance are by now increasingly significant," Isi emphasises, "in the first six months of 2024 they amounted to about 780 million, 115 million more than in the same period of 2023. In detail, in the first six months of 2024 for planned maintenance €318 million were spent on major works of art (bridges and viaducts); €184 million on road surface resurfacing; €129 million on complementary works; €88 million on safety barriers; and €62 million on plant".

According to kinematic measurements carried out on Anas roads, speed limits are exceeded in 10% of cases (one car in ten). Exceeding the limit by more than 20% of the permitted speed occurs in 1.2% of cases. Bari turns out to be the most undisciplined city: 34.6% of vehicles, around one in three, exceed the limit; Turin for 19.7%. Rome is the most virtuous: the limits on the Grande Raccordo Anulare are exceeded by only 0.4% to 1%. On average, people travel 5.9% faster at night than during the day. Rome is the city with the biggest difference in average speed between day and night: the Gra at night is +23% faster than during the day (66.5 km/h during the day against 81.9 km/h at night).