In the land of Ferrari and Lamborghini the new speed limit is 30 km/h

BOLOGNA, Italy – When Bologna became the first major Italian city to impose a 30 km/h speed limit, Luca Mazzoli, a local taxi driver, posted a sign on his taxi warning passengers of the change.

He had to do this, he said grumpily the other day, “to explain why I drive so slowly.”

Since the limit went into effect in mid-January, it’s taking Mazzoli longer to get from point A to point B, he says, meaning he’s picked up fewer passengers and found himself stuck in traffic more often.

“The city needs to move,” he says.

Critics of the move say Bologna risks stagnating as it has become the first major Italian city to join a growing group of municipalities, including Amsterdam, Bilbao (Spain), Brussels and Lyon (France), who have lowered speed limits from 50 km/h (about 50 km/h) in the belief that the change will lead to safer, healthier and more livable cities.

The mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, included the new speed limit among the electoral promises that contributed to his election in 2021.

Referring to the lower limit, he said:

“Driving in your 30s is part of a vision of a more democratic and sustainable use of public space,” where neighborhoods prioritize children and the elderly and investments prioritize cycle paths and public transport to work towards carbon neutrality.

Furthermore, he added during an interview in his art-filled office at City Hall, Italian cities were built over centuries and they were not suitable for an excess of cars.

There is also the question of safety.

According to Lepore, reducing speed reduces the number of deaths, and underlines that they occurred approximately in 2022 60 dead relating to traffic in the metropolitan area of ​​Bologna.

“With this in mind, it is difficult to argue that private car use should not have limits,” he said.

But convincing the people of Bologna was a bumpy road. Bologna is the capital of a region where some of the fastest and most glamorous cars in the world are produced, such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani.

Reaction

There have been protests, both in the streets and on social media (with memes and all), and a petition to hold a referendum on the new speed limit has attracted just over 53,000 signatures.

The petition was launched by Guendalina Furini, a student at the University of Bologna, concerned that her 40km daily commute to the city would increase significantly.

According to him, the new limit is “difficult to maintain” and would end up dissuading people from visiting Bologna because the risk of receiving a fine is too high.

“The city loses,” he says.

Other protesters said the real safety risk was having to pay attention to the speed limit on the dashboard, which meant one’s eyes were not on the road.

“People are very angry,” said Giorgio Gorza, who leads a citizens group that has organized protests.

As if that wasn’t enough, he adds, the application of the speed limit coincided with traffic slowdowns due to the construction of new tram lines crossing the city, as well as with a diversion towards the center after the need to demolish one of the most characteristic towers of Bologna. cordoned off.

On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of fractious citizens and taxi drivers took to the streets to protest and circulate at a snail’s pace in an impromptu parade, honking their horns and snarling traffic.

The new speed limit “is impossible” to enforce, said Gorza, one of the protest organizers.

“It’s like standing still, and nobody takes a car if they want to sit still, if it takes longer than walking,” he said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “It’s illogical.”

The discontent came as a shock to the city’s centre-right opposition, which joined protests ahead of June’s European Union elections, and called a border referendum on Monday.

The opposition’s mockery was amplified by the Italian Transport Minister, Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, who called Bologna “limit”senseless“.

Last week, Salvini signed a directive questioning a city’s right to impose a general 30 km/h limit, arguing, among other things, that restrictions should be decided on a street-by-street basis.

Legal experts have debated how much weight the directive could have on a city’s decisions, and the dispute could end up in court.

The Municipality of Bologna responded to the directive by noting in a statement that its speed limits comply with current national legislation.

“Our priority is road safety and people’s quality of life.”

Lepore stressed during the interview that the new limit only affects 70% of the city, and that the rest of the roads maintain the 50 or 70 km/h limits. He said the city is open to “fixes” on the speed limit, but not before a period of oversight.

According to the city, only 25 speeding tickets were issued in the first two weeks.

At this stage “it’s more about informing than fining,” Lepore said.

In 2021, Olbia in Sardinia became the first Italian city to establish a broad limit of 30 km/h.

Even there the first reactions were harsh, recalls the mayor Settimo Nizzi.

“But it is right that a mayor thinks about the quality of life of his citizens,” said Nizzi.

For months, officials have worked with residents to extol the benefits of a more walkable and bike-friendly city, “to get them accustomed to this new lifestyle,” he added.

Walking “is much better for your health”, said Nizzi, and now the inhabitants of Olbia “are happier”.

There are signs that the new Bologna limit is already having an effect.

According to the city, traffic accidents were reduced by 21% in the first two weeks after the new limit went into effect, compared to the same period last year, when one death occurred.

None of this year’s crashes were fatal, according to a city statement released last week.

Lepore was confident that the positive results of his measure would soon become evident.

“It won’t take long for people to realize it was the right decision,” he said.

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