The Quickshift
- There has long been a problem with speed cameras throughout Italy, which impose heavy fines on road users.
- One particular speed camera generated more than $1 million in three years.
- The Italian Ministry of Transport issues strict regulations against the installation of additional radar devices.
CCTV cameras and other surveillance devices on public roads are understandably a sensitive issue for many people. Not only because of the potential invasion of privacy, but also because of the possibility that these devices could be exploited by certain groups of people.
In the US, for example, not all states agree on speed cameras, and a number of states have passed laws banning the use of speed cameras. In Europe, on the other hand, speed cameras seem to be far more common. In fact, it seems that some of these speed cameras are more aimed at making money off road users who commit offenses than actually protecting them.
That’s exactly what seems to be the case in the otherwise quiet town of Colle Santa Lucia in the province of Belluno in Italy. This picturesque town is idyllic and seems to have come straight out of a postcard or your grandmother’s PC screensaver, with winding, undulating roads surrounded by lush meadows. It looks quite peaceful.
But it hides a secret.
Italian Communities
Passo Giau in Colle Santa Lucia, Italy.
On one of the city’s most popular mountain passes, Passo Giau, a single speed camera has raked in a whopping €1,265,822 (about $1,384,373) in fines alone from 2021 to 2023. Popular with tourists, Passo Giau has a speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour (31 miles per hour), but considering how many people have been fined over the years, it’s obvious that this speed limit is far too low to make sense.
What makes things even crazier is the fact that there are only 353 registered inhabitants in Colle Santa Lucia, so if you do the math, that comes to around 3,585 euros per capita in speeding tickets alone.
Pretty crazy if you ask me.
Still, there is no denying that something is wrong and it is good to know that the authorities are taking action on the matter. In fact, Italian Transport Minister Matteo Salvini recently announced a new regulation to limit the proliferation of speed cameras in Italy.
First of all, hidden radars will be banned and road users will have to be informed about the presence of future radars. More importantly, local authorities will have to justify the installation of radars using real data such as traffic analysis and accident data.
But for the residents and tourists of Colle Santa Lucia, who have lost thousands of euros in seemingly unjustified speeding tickets, this may all be too little, too late. If there is a glimmer of hope here, however, it is that this particular speed camera appears to no longer be in operation. A report by Italian Insider states that the radar device at Passo Giau was destroyed in January 2024.
Personally, I have no problem with speed cameras, provided that drivers are notified of their presence in advance. Here in the Philippines, highways are littered with speed cameras, but road users are well alerted to their presence, and navigation apps like Waze even warn drivers of their presence hundreds of meters in advance.
Objectively speaking, the authorities are wrong when they use speed cameras to gain an advantage over road users and make quick money.
