Italy’s New Road Code: Prioritising Vehicles Over Pedestrians
As the European Mobility Week concludes with the slogan “Mobility for Everyone,” Italy is revising its Road Code in a manner that appears to favour vehicles over pedestrians. The Italian Network for Equitable Mobility (RIME), comprising over forty associations—including FIAB, Legambiente, Salvaiciclisti, and the Scarponi Foundation—has criticised the draft for reversing the priority hierarchy: vehicles first, people second.
Reversing Priorities
RIME’s primary concern is the shift in the hierarchy of objectives. In the draft, health, safety, and sustainable mobility are demoted from primary goals to interests subordinate to free circulation. This translates to prioritising vehicle flow over pedestrian safety. Such a shift influences decisions on speed limits, right-of-way rules, penalties, and road design. If the guiding principle is to keep traffic moving, any measure that slows down automobiles becomes an exception to justify; if the principle is to prevent fatalities, the opposite applies.
Neglecting Vulnerable Road Users
The draft also places the onus on vulnerable road users to protect themselves from traffic hazards, without addressing the root causes of these dangers. This approach reduces responsibilities, controls, and penalties for motor vehicles. In practice, this means that pedestrians, cyclists, and anyone crossing at pedestrian crossings must be even more adept at self-defence. RIME advocates for the opposite: the more vulnerable a person is, the more the system should protect them, with responsibility increasing alongside the potential for harm. This principle underpins the Safe System approach, which has yielded measurable results in Europe.
Alarming Statistics
The statistics underscore the severity of the issue. In 2025, while overall road fatalities in Italy decreased by 5.3%, cyclist deaths increased by 20%, reaching 198. E-bike fatalities rose to 30, a 50% increase. Vulnerable road users now account for 53.3% of all deaths. The overall decline is driven by passive safety features in cars, protecting occupants but not those outside the vehicle. A reform that further shifts the burden of protection onto the most exposed individuals is not neutral; it is a choice.
Proposed Measures
RIME proposes specific measures to address these concerns:
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Speed Limits: Implement a standard limit of 30 km/h on residential and local urban roads, maintaining higher speeds on main roads. This aligns with the National Road Safety Plan 2030.
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Preventive Controls: Base the placement of controls on accident history to prevent future incidents. RIME encapsulates this approach: “We should not need a victim to prevent the next one.”
Allocation of Resources
The allocation of resources reflects transportation policy priorities. Recently, the government allocated substantial funds for vehicle tax exemptions for millions of cars and motorcycles, regardless of the owner’s income, while the National Transport Fund remains structurally insufficient. This choice continues to finance dependence on private vehicles, with costs borne by families, the country, and the environment. RIME argues that today, mobility in Italy is not safe and efficient for everyone, but it can be: more widespread and accessible public transport, more active mobility, and greater autonomy for municipalities mean access to work, school, and services even for those who do not drive or own a car.
A Narrow Window for Change
Time is running out to influence the reform. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport’s consultation closed on September 13, the text is expected to reach the Council of Ministers in mid-October, and implementation is not anticipated before 2027. The delegation bill, presented to the Chamber in November 2025 and approved in March, was amended by the Senate in July, extending deadlines from 12 to 22 months. There is still political space to change the approach, but it is a narrow window.
After thirty years, Italy has the opportunity to choose the mobility of the coming decades—a mobility that allows us to choose how to move without paying the price in time, safety, or health. A mobility truly for all. Politics cannot afford to waste it. A Road Code is rewritten once a generation: if this rewrite consolidates the idea that the road belongs to those who go faster, we will carry it with us until 2050.
The associations that adhere to RIME
2NOVE9 Associazione Vittime Incidenti Stradali • AdessoBasta ODV • AIFVS Associazione italiana familiari e vittime della strada • AMODO • A.Ri.Bi • AFVS • Alba, Luci sulla buona strada • Associazione Andrea Nardini a.p.s. • Associazione Atena ETS • Associazione Gabriele Borgogni ETS • AVISL Associazione Vittime Incidenti Stradali e del Lavoro • Bel Parcheggio • Bike4City • BYCS • Co.S.Mo.S. Comitato Spontaneo Mobilità Sostenibile • CUB: Ciclisti Urbani Baresi • Città30Lode • Città delle Persone • Clean Cities Italia • Comitato Vivere Meglio la Città • FIAB Italia • Delta fondazione ETS • Fondazione Lorenzo Guarnieri • Fondazione Matteo Ciappi • Fondazione Michele Scarponi • Kyoto Club • Legambiente • Movimento Diritti dei Pedoni • Napoli Pedala • Non correre, Accorri • Pedala Martesana • Per le strade della vita APS • Pesaro30 • Pillole di tram • Salvaiciclisti Bologna • Salvaiciclisti Roma • Sonia Tosi ODV • Strada Per Tutti • Urban Mobility – Andria • TERRENO cycling therapy