New Highway Code

The Council of Ministers of 27 June, on the proposal of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini, approved, in a preliminary examination, a bill which introduces interventions in the field of road safety and delegation for the revision of the highway code referred to in the legislative decree of 30 April 1992, n. 285.

The objective of the rules is to improve road safety, respecting, on the one hand, the mobility needs of citizens, on the other, safeguarding human life and the environment, while ensuring a fair and effective system of sanctions.

Action is taken in the field of driving while intoxicated or after having taken drugs, providing, among other things:

• affixing to the driver's licence convicted of driving with a blood alcohol content of more than 0.5 and no more than 1.5 grams per litre of the 68 code, which entails the prescription of the absolute prohibition of drinking alcoholic beverages while driving. In such cases, it is also envisaged that the prefect requires the convicted person to have his driving license reviewed with a medical examination;
• the increase of a third of the foreseen sanctions for driving under the influence of alcohol against the driver whose license has been affixed the code 68. The same penalties are doubled in case of alteration or tampering with or removal of the seals of the "alcolock" device;
• changes to the rules on driving after taking drugs, with the elimination of the need for the subject to be caught in a "state of psycho-physical alteration" deriving from taking drugs. For the completion of the offence, it will therefore be sufficient for a person to start driving after taking drugs, even if he is not in a state of impairment;
• the possibility for the traffic police bodies, when there is well-founded reason to believe that the driver being checked is under the effect of the use of drugs, or when the preliminary checks have given a positive result, to carry out, directly on the place of control road, a sampling of salivary fluid. The traffic police must always proceed to the same checks in the event of an accident;
• the provision, for the traffic police bodies that have submitted the driver to the preliminary checks with positive results and do not yet have the results of the second level tests carried out by accredited laboratories or if it is not possible to proceed, for any reason, with the second level, of prevent the same driver from continuing to drive, withdrawing his license instantly and preventing him from disposing of the vehicle. On the basis of the positive results of the preliminary checks, the Prefect is given the opportunity to submit the driver to a medical examination, with the extension of the license suspension until the final outcome. If the medical examination certifies the driver's unfitness to drive, the license will be revoked in any case;
• the regulation of the gradualness of driving licenses is updated providing for the use of the so-called alcolock, the device to be installed on vehicles used by subjects convicted of driving while intoxicatedwhich prevents the engine from starting if a blood alcohol level above zero is detected. The holders of a driving license issued in Italy, with respect to which the absolute prohibition of drinking alcoholic beverages while driving is imposed, can drive, on the national territory, motor vehicles of the international categories M or N, only if it has been installed on these vehicles at their own expense the alcohollock device.

Regarding the suspension of the driving licence:

• further cases are envisaged for the sanction of suspension of the licence, in particular when the latter has an attribute score of less than twenty points;
• the duration of the license suspension (from 7 to 15 days depending on the case) is based on the number of points held by the perpetrator of the offense at the time of the assessment without the need for the adoption of an order by the Prefect.
• the suspension will result directly and automatically from the notification of the violation, without the need for the adoption of an order by the Prefect.
• Provisions are then introduced on micro-mobility, characterized by the use of less heavy and potentially less polluting means of transport than traditional ones (such as, for example, scooters, skateboards, electric scooters, bicycles), in order to raise safety standards , with the provision, among other things, of an identification mark also for electric scooters.
• Finally, with a view to strengthening the culture of safe driving and prevention, the following are envisaged:
• as a result of participation in extra-curricular courses in road safety education organized by upper secondary schools, state and parita, at the time of issue of the driving license, a credit of two points;
• the extension of the ban on driving vehicles exceeding a certain power for the first three years from the issuance of the category B driving licence;
• The strengthening of rules on anti-abandonment devices for childrenchildren under the age of 3, in order to guarantee their full and complete effectiveness, also through the progressive integration of the same with the motor vehicle;
• the commitment to promote information and communication campaigns, with particular reference to the obligation to install anti-abandonment devices and to wear seat belts also on the rear seats.

Press release of the Council of Ministers n. 41 of 27 June 2023

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Note:  The new highway code was approved through a bill, To become definitive, must be approved in Parliament, which has the right to request changes. The conversion into law could take place within the year. 

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