After (almost) seven years (Article 60, law 29 July 2010, no. 120, “Road safety provisions”), the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport issued a decree aimed at introducing a new type of traffic lights in order to ensure greater protection in road traffic safety. It is the Ministerial Decree of April 27, 2017, concerning the “Characteristics to allow to homologate and install devices designed to display the remaining running time of the new traffic light systems”.
The innovation introduced by the Ministry is represented by a new generation of “smart” traffic light systems, which will have to “display the remaining running time of the lights”. They are, literally, “countdown” traffic lights, which are able to display, in a reliable manner, the amount of seconds that are still available before the red light switches on (Article 1, paragraph 1, Ministerial Decree 27 April 2017).
The purpose of this visual signaling mode is to increase awareness and cautiousness in road users, especially by “spurring” them to prepare “in time” to slow down and, then, stop the vehicle. In other words, it is hoped that these devices will allow better graduality in driving the vehicle, ensuring the chance of adjusting the speed of the vehicle.
Despite the public relevance of the aim of protecting road safety, the Ministry deemed it more appropriate to give the whole law great flexibility, particularly by granting the road owning bodies the (entirely discretionary) power to choose whether to install the devices (“the use of devices aimed at displaying the remaining running time of the traffic lights, where required by road owning bodies […]”: Article 2, Paragraph 1, ministerial decree April 27, 2017), without providing for any kind of penalty to the road owning bodies, if they do not apply the decree in practice.
The places where the countdown traffic lights will work are mandatory (Article 2, Paragraph 2), however, within them, the Ministry has stipulated that the new devices should only be used in conjunction with the other already existing (“traditional”) traffic lights, that is:
1) for pedestrians and other cycles in order to indicate the remaining time in the cycle and pedestrian crossings;
2) regulating alternate one-way vehicular flows;
3) regulating normal vehicular transit in the intersections of roads with one lane in each direction, with no pedestrian and bicycle crossings.
Road owning bodies can then decide to install new traffic lights “even in existing traffic light systems with the [above] pairings and for the regulating of temporary alternate one-way vehicular flows set up in case of roadworks” (Article 2, Paragraph 3, ministerial decree 27 April 2017).
The new legislation will come into force on 20 December 2017 (see Article 3, ministerial decree 27 April 2017).
avv. Andrea.Giardini – andrea.giardini@studiozunarelli.com
