The situation of road accidents (in terms of deaths per million inhabitants) in Italy is more or less near to the EU-15 average; the situation is neither among the worst nor the most advanced ones, though the risk for the weaker and most vulnerable categories of road users remains high. However the rate of improvement has been slow, and actually the trend reversed towards the end of the '90s. Notwithstanding a growing attention to the issue in the late '90s, also caused by EU inputs, only in 2003 was a substantial reduction (some 10 per cent) obtained, thanks to the adoption of a new (for Italy) policy instrument, the penalty point driving permit. This paper analyzes the features of the policy tool in Italy and its actual impact in modifying driving behavior and road traffic accidents; though the impact was initially quite relevant, its effect seem to be wearing off as time goes by, mainly due to lack of visible enforcement. Unless a substantive change occurs, Italy will not be able to attain the 50 per cent reduction in road fatalities that the EU has set as a target by the year 2010 (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see E217780.
Abstract