Road safety: Salvini calls a summit following the latest accidents: ‘Too many young victims’

Musicco is also once again calling for the introduction of compulsory road safety education in schools. “We have called for this measure on several occasions and will soon be meeting with the Department for Education,” he explains. According to the association’s president, the aim is to promote a stronger culture of safety amongst the younger generation, given that road accidents are one of the leading causes of death amongst young people under the age of 30.

Meanwhile, the Prefect of Livorno, Giancarlo Dionisi, has convened a meeting of the Provincial Committee on Public Order and Security (COSP) to discuss electric scooters. The initiative, explains the Prefecture, ‘stems from the growing prevalence of this phenomenon, particularly along the seafront, in nightlife areas and in places where young people gather, where behaviour contrary to the rules of the Highway Code is frequently observed’, including ‘riding without a helmet, carrying more than one person on the same scooter and other dangerous behaviour’ that poses a risk to public safety.

The meeting has been convened to take stock of compliance with the regulations – including compulsory number plates and insurance – under the ‘new framework for electric scooters, strongly championed by the Government and supported in particular by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini’, which ‘is now fully implemented, thanks in part to the directives and operational circulars issued by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, aimed at ensuring their uniform and effective application throughout the country’. ‘E-scooters represent a modern form of sustainable mobility, but compliance with the rules is essential,’ emphasises Dionisi. ‘When this does not happen, they can become a serious risk factor for users and other road users.’ During the meeting, measures will be set out “to step up checks and ensure the strictest enforcement of the new regulations, which include, amongst other things, the requirement for a helmet, insurance cover, an identification plate and compliance with specific speed limits and conditions of use”. “Road safety is not something to be taken lightly,” concludes Prefect Dionisi. “The freedom to use new forms of transport must always go hand in hand with compliance with the rules and the protection of human life, which remains the primary asset to be safeguarded.”

“The work of revising and updating the Highway Code is certainly not yet complete. We are awaiting Parliament’s approval of the extension of the Government’s mandate so that, in the autumn, we can present the results of the extensive collaborative work carried out over recent months between Parliament and the Government,” explains Salvatore Deidda, a Member of Parliament for Fratelli d’Italia and Chair of the Chamber of Deputies’ Ninth Committee on Transport, Post and Telecommunications, in a statement.

“We are aware,” continues Deidda, “that there is no law or code capable of providing 100 per cent protection against the carelessness and tragic accidents that we have, unfortunately, witnessed in these first few weeks of summer. However, it is our institutional and moral duty not to let our guard down.”

“My call to all political and social forces,” concludes the FdI representative, “is to work together to understand where and how we can best safeguard and promote road safety for our citizens. The path forward is clear: we must continue to increase the numbers of our law enforcement officers, thereby ensuring greater and more widespread monitoring of our roads to protect the lives of those who travel on them.”