There was a time when I was growing up in Italy in the 60's and 70's that one could always talk ones way out of a parking ticket or a traffic violation. The thing that made post fascist Italy so wonderful was that people followed the spirit rather than the letter of the law...I remember one day we could not find a parking space near my friend's studio apartment on Via Margutta so at last in despair we parked perpendicular right on the sidewalk in front of the Babuino statue. Upon our return we found a warning in very flowery language advising us that although Rome welcomed tourists that we must be more careful about how we parked...and having said that it went on to wish us a most pleasant stay in Italy...

I have to say that this summer in June 2007, things were not that way. Perhaps my karma caught up with me or perhaps Italy has been so innundated by tourists that familiarity has bred contempt... I happened to be in Italy on the National Republic Day in Tirrenia near Marina di Pisa. The pay parking box had a burlap bag over it to allow people to park for free during the national holiday. No where was there a sign or posting that the free parking would end at 7AM the next day.

I found a ticket on my windshield about 9AM the next day and I dutifully mailed in a check for it to the Commune di Pisa because I was leaving town and had no time to pay it in person.

The check cleared and showed up cancelled in my monthly statement in July back in the USA. Then a month after that I got a notice from the rental car company that they were charging my credit card $30 for the same ticket. I argued and sent a copy of the cancelled check to the Commune Di Pisa but to date have heard nothing more...rather than free parking it turned into a small town revenue trap...

As if paying it twice wasn't bad enough, today 5 months later I got another letter from the car rental company saying they were charging my credit card another $30 for a moving violation that apparently unbeknownst to me, I had been given in Rome for driving in a lane that was reserved for buses somewhere on Via Nazionale at the entrance to Piazza della Republica.

I must say that considering that driving in Rome was like Pod Racing or herding sheep in which the only way one could survive was to go wherever there was an opening regardless of lanes, I am amazed that I was singled out for such a moving violation.

I am left wondering if the traffic police are picking on rental cars figuring that tourists will be long gone and unable to argue the ticket in court.

As much as I love Italy, I must say that this experience really pisses me off!!! I am coming to the conclusion that traffic congestion, parking and the driving experience are becoming no fun anywhere on the planet...

BA

Attached Images

IMG_0554.JPG (130.6 KB, 8 views)

Brian, I regret to tell you that you have been the victim of nothing more than driving in a European city in the 21st century. I have very little experience of driving in Rome, but what you describe is identical to what has happened in London.

I was a London policeman for nearly 18 years before moving to Sardinia. The number of cars in London was growing at an alarming rate, and the subsequent parking problems led to the introduction of vehicle removals and wheel clamping about 20 years ago. In the first year of operation the London Borough of Westminster made over a million pounds profit. Since then fixed speed traps, bus lane cameras and a congestion charge have been introduced.
About 10 years ago most traffic enforcement laws were decriminalized so that the local authorities became responsible for administering them, and as they benefit from the fines they issue any latitude that was previously given to drivers has gone.

Without wishing to sound too cynical, most major cities in Europe have cottoned on to this method of making money from the fine upstanding people who have elected them to office.

__________________
EZancestors.com - a genealogical portal for those researching their family history in Britian

word-wise.net - affordable quality ebooks

Thanks Sardoman,
it must have been a camera because I sure don't remember any policeman!

BA

Today in the mail I received 4 more traffic tickets of which I had been completely unaware of at the time they were purported to have occurred which the rental car company had billed to my credit card, this time from the Commune Di Firenze...it took five months to send me the notice and there was no documentation as to what they were for...all of the millions of bad drivers there, why are they singling me out...I can't even defend myself from here in California and if you read the fine print from the rental car company it says for documentation of the violations I must contact the local traffic authority...right!!! What a scam! So far this has cost me $210...I was only there two weeks?! That's more tickets than I have received in the last 20 years in America...and my son and mother can attest to how carefully I was driving...anyone care to place any bets on whether I will receive any more tickets? Let's see... after Florence we drove to Monteregioni then Siena, then Montalcino, then back to Rome and to Ostia before finally departing...che bruta fine!

Brian, don't quote me on this, but I seem to remember that a fine can only be considered legal and due in Italy if you receive notice of it with six months (180 days). I know it doesn't help with the fines you have already received, but this knowledge may come in useful should you receive any more tickets from your trip. I received an 'unknown' fine in Naples (of all places!!) and the rental company informed me they were going to charge my card 50 euros, so I called the rental company and politely told them to get lost. I then called the card company and told them that under no circumstances were they to entertain any such charge, if one was presented for payment. I never heard another thing about it.

Brian,
You seem to have received more than your fair share of tickets. I read on another site that the Italian authorities have one calendar year in which to inform non-residents of a traffic violation.
I don't know how good your Italian is but here is the link to the legislation page of the website of the Automobile Club d'Italia. I hope it helps to tell you what your legal position is. http://www.aci.it/index.php?id=842

Good luck

__________________
EZancestors.com - a genealogical portal for those researching their family history in Britian

word-wise.net - affordable quality ebooks

Dear Sirs at EMO (European Municipality Outsourcing),

I lived in Italy from 1954 until 1966 and from 1970 to 1973 and during all those years I never received a traffic violation or parking ticket. Once I received a very polite warning in Rome for illegal parking but not even a fine.

Six months ago I took my 90 year old mother, who had not been back to Italy in 36 years and my 20 year old son who had never been to Italy for a two week vacation. We had a wonderful trip and saw 26 old friends all together.

In Pisa on the national holiday of the Republic, I parked in front of our hotel and there was a burlap bag over the parking pay box due to holiday. No where did it say that at 7AM the next day the holiday would be over and I received a parking ticket. I paid it by check in the mail and 5 months later I received a bill to my credit card for the same ticket. As I am over 10,000 miles away I decided not to contest this.

Then I received 4 tickets from the Comune Di Firenze: 1165836/T/2007, 1165828/T/2007, P-2007-B-01075883, P-2007-B-01075850 and today two more P058/AF5264 and P058/AF5262 as well as one from the Comune Di Roma n.13071056462. All seven of these were for the same violation of driving in a lane reserved for buses and all were registered by hidden camera. I have paid all these tickets immediately and the one from Pisa twice without protest but I must tell you that I consider this a form of robbery and it leaves me with no respect for the law. The hidden cameras are like the speed traps that little towns of a few thousand inhabitants use for revenue in isolated places in the Mid West or southern states of the USA as you have seen in movies. You should post large signs with large letters warning drivers of the bus lanes and the amount of the fine like they do in the USA. The purpose of traffic rules is for public safety not to raise revenue. The police are supposed to serve the public to our benefit not theirs!!!

I consider myself a person of greater than average intelligence and I have not received a ticket in my own country in over six years although I drive 35,000 miles per year. I do not agree that the signs clearly mark that certain lanes are reserved for buses and in fact I was completely unaware that I had committed any infractions until I received these tickets 6 months later. This is no way to welcome tourists although your economy depends on tourism. I have a deep love for Italy but I must tell you that I am not inclined to drive in Italy again now that I understand what a greedy money machine has been created at the expense of unsuspecting tourists. This is no way to welcome foreigners who come to your country to gain cultural experience and personal growth.

Sincerely,

Brian H. Appleton

Brian
I know this doesn't help you situation, but in the UK where there are bus lanes there are some random cameras. However, the buses are also fitted with them so you only have to be in a bus lane with a bus behind you to fall foul of the law.

The problem is that the bus lanes are not operative for 24 hours a day, so you can drive in them quite legally on some occasions, but become the victim of an overzealous bus driver. Unless you know the route well how are you to know that the bus lane was/wasn't in operation at that time!

Let's hope this is the last you hear of these!

__________________
EZancestors.com - a genealogical portal for those researching their family history in Britian

word-wise.net - affordable quality ebooks

OK are you guys ready for this? I got ticket # 9 in the mail today, this time from Livorno...same thing...driving in a bus lane...I am trying so hard not to be angry about this...I was only there in Italy for two weeks last summer for the sake of Christ...either I am really stupid and blind or there are no damn signs marking these bus lanes...madonna orsa!!! I'm up to $600 now... %@##**&&%$!***

BA

Brian - my heart goes out to you! It would be difficult to get as many tickets as you have if you had tried to. But now I'm worried! I drove my car off the motorail in Livorno (only about 25km from here), and by my own admission made some dreadful, highly illegal I'm sure, manouvers to get on the right road! Maybe the British plates will save me...................