Lupi Slams Fake Speed Detectors

“Illegal” says transport minister in letter warning local authorities not to use “dangerous” devices

Those decoy Autovelox pillars don’t detect anything but there are so many of them that they must be doing something right. Yet the transport minister rejects them out of hand. Local authorities have lined Italy’s roads with the large orange cylinders that we have all seen at least once when we were out driving. They bear the legend “Controllo Velocità” [Speed Control] and are known to traffic professionals as “Velo Ok” or “Speed Check”.

But the bright orange detectors often have nothing inside, serving only as dissuaders to slow motorists down. Here’s how they work. Only about one pillar in five contains a working speed detection device but motorists don’t know whether the one up ahead does, and slow down just in case. Transport minister Maurizio Lupi thinks they are illegal and in a blog post goes so far as to claim that they “could constitute a hazard”. Mr Lupi wrote to Piero Fassino, the chair of the local authorities association, ANCI, to confirm his “negative opinion”. It’s not the first time that Mr Lupi has made his voice heard on the matter. A few months ago, he issued a negative technical opinion of the pillars because they “do not come under any of the categories of device or signal authorised by the highway code currently in force”. In other words, it’s a bureaucratic dog’s dinner. The problem is that the orange pillars must contain “approved speed measuring devices” to comply with regulations. They must be working and must issue real fines. Autovelox pillars cannot be mere dissuaders. Others say that the decoy devices are also too expensive - one report on the “Le Iene” TV show mentioned a price tag of €3,000 per pillar - and to round things off, the transport ministry refers to the devices as a potential “hazard”. The concrete bases constitute an obstacle if sited too close to the carriageway.