A funny
thing happened to me on the way to the police station yesterday. Funny for
those who appreciate a good dose of irony, anyway. But first, bear with me for
some background.
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| Lucy points to a ZTL sign in Montecatini Alto. It is up high like the one in Altopascio that I didn't see. |
About two years ago, I
received an automated traffic ticket in Italy for accidentally entering a
limited traffic zone with a rental car in Altopascio. The
sign was up high, and I didn’t see it, but the camera next to the sign saw me,
or my auto license plate, anyway. As typically occurs here, first a charge
showed up on my credit card from the auto rental company. This is an
administrative fee for the rental company to look up my address and give it to
the police. A month or so later, I received a letter telling me of the
violation and giving me details of how to pay the fine. I should also mention
that in 2011 I received a traffic camera ticket for speeding in Pisa and
another in Altopascio last year for being stuck in an intersection when the light
turned red. These incidents prompted me to research and write about traffic
camera tickets in Italy, and my blog entries on these topics are approaching 20,000 page views.
In my
research about speeding violators in Italy caught by what Europeans call autovelox cameras,
I found that Italy has far and away the most autovelox machines in Europe.
According to Coyote, which describes itself as Europe’s leading real-time
traffic information service, Italy has more than 7,043 fixed and mobile speed
detectors on motorways, followed by France with 3,324 and Spain with 1,800. But
it’s actually not the speed detectors that most foreigners complain about but
rather the huge number of fines which are issued to drivers who stumble
unwittingly into ZTL areas. ZTL stands for zona traffico limitato, or limited
traffic zone, a concept with which I have a love-hate relationship. It’s wonderful that
Italy has restricted traffic in many of its historical centers, reducing noise
and air pollution and making life so much more pleasant for walkers and people
on bikes. But I’m also a nervous wreck when driving in any city in Italy
because of all the stories I’ve heard—and my own experiences—of the risks of
wandering into a ZTL.
So back
to my ironic experience. I pitched the idea about me writing an article for an
American magazine, warning travelers about driving in Italian cities and explaining the
meaning of those ZTL signs. I found an editor who is enthusiastic about the
concept, and with the help of my cousin Claudio Del Terra, a police officer in
Altopascio, I set up an interview with Comandante Domenico Gatto of the much
larger nearby city of Montecatini Terme. I put the address of the police station
into my GPS, and I took with me Simone Torreggiani, a bilingual friend, to help
smooth communications during the interview.
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| I almost got a fine in Montecatini, but I was saved by the small print. Can you read those hours? |
We drove
to Montecatini and exited a roundabout onto the curved street of via Sansero.
Simultaneously we saw the police station and—you guessed it—up high, a ZTL sign
with a camera behind it. I hit the brakes and turned around in the middle of
the street—probably another violation, if anybody saw it. We parked the
car and walked over to the sign and camera, We noted the angle of the
camera and realized that I had undoubtedly not stopped in time. So here I was,
heading into an interview warning people about how to avoid ZTL violations, and
I had just blundered into one myself.
Ah, but
then we looked up again and read the fine print! The ZTL was only in force from
June 1 to October 2, and then only during the hours of midnight to 6 a.m. (perhaps to help people sleep). I was
off the hook! We still laughed at the irony, not only about the close call but
also how it was impossible to come around the corner, read the sign and stop in
time. Even more impossible would it have been for us to read the small print
about the time and date while seated in the car.
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| Here's a ZTL in Montecatini that can't be missed! |
We
continued to the interview, and I can say that Commandante Gatto was extremely
helpful, informative, friendly and gracious. He explained that one can look up
maps that show all the ZTLs in Italy, along with the hours of enforcement. When
it’s necessary to drive inside a city to reach one’s hotel, there’s a procedure
for the hotel to provide the tourist’s license number to the police so no
infraction is incurred. He recommended that one use an up-to-date GPS device,
which can find routes that don’t lead you into a ZTL, and he provided many more
tips about driving in Italy which I can use in the article. Equally as
important, he helped me set up a photo shoot with two of his officers, because
good visuals will be needed to draw attention to the story.
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| Comandante Domenico Gatto and me. |
Update: The article has now been printed in Ambassador Magazine, which can be downloaded in its entirety here: https://www.niaf.org/memberships/ambassador-magazine/. Or you can just read the pages with my article below. Hopefully, I’ll not have
any more unfortunate personal examples to include as research in the meantime.
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Other posts on traffic tickets in Italy:
7000 cameras? Haha. Seems at least that many on the M1 between Heathrow and downtown London.
ReplyDeleteEven though I make an effort to avoid any infraction I get at least one ticket every year. The charge hits my credit card months later and I contest it.
ReplyDeleteI got ticket in Pisa and Milan. We didn’t notice until dirty deeds done.
ReplyDeleteI also paid rental agency $75 x 2. Got but ignored ticket.