There are the last striking cases: from the two girls invested in Ponte Milvio in Rome to the 7 German tourists overwhelmed in Lutago, in South Tyrol. But the numbers also point to an increase in road fatalities in the past year. The Minister of the Interior registers the "social alarm" on the issue and launches two contrasting initiatives, "enlisting" also the municipal police officers for the traffic police services and inviting the prefects to map the most risky places to claim to prepare adequate checks.
A framework agreement was signed in the morning at the Interior Ministry by Lamorgese and the president of the ANCI, Antonio Decaro, to assign municipal police forces a prominent role in carrying out traffic police services on urban roads, including the detection of accidents. In the immediate future, the news will concern the 14 metropolitan cities and the capitals capable of organizing the services, then other cities will be progressively involved, starting with those with more than 100 thousand inhabitants. The implementation of the agreement, the Interior Ministry notes, will make it possible to free up resources from the police force to be assigned to control the territory.
Lamorgese and Decaro also shared the need to involve the associations of the managers of entertainment venues to strengthen prevention, especially with regard to the youngest, through awareness-raising initiatives on what can happen by driving under the effects of alcohol and drugs, distribution of breathalyzers and the safety of parking lots and connecting areas with the premises. The minister then sent a directive to the prefects to request - by January 20 - a mapping in the road sections most exposed to the risk of accidents; in particular those close to meeting places and entertainment venues. Police controls will be concentrated on the identified areas and, in synergy with local administrations, measures will be developed to ensure the safety of the road environment, such as the improvement of signs, lighting and crossings.
Lamorgese also invites the "punctual" statistical detection of accidents to bring out recurring causes and dynamics. "2019 - underlined the minister - showed a slight decrease in the number of road accidents compared to the previous year but unfortunately road fatalities have increased". The priority, therefore, he added, "is to give an immediate and concrete response to improve the safety of road traffic which passes through greater controls but also awareness-raising initiatives". Decaro, for his part, said he was "convinced of the usefulness of entrusting road safety to the local police, as required by this agreement. But - he highlighted - it is essential that the Municipalities that need more staff to ensure this function, receive guarantees from the State: the success of this protocol will depend on a full collaboration between the Municipalities and the ministry both in terms of staffing of the local agents and in relation to the accessibility of the databases ".
