Italian city of Bologna clashes with government over 30 kph speed limit

The northern Italian city of Bologna is at the centre of a tussle to keep its 30 kph (19 mph) city centre speed limit despite a court ruling against it and hostility to the measure from Giorgia Meloni's national government.

Bologna saw road accidents fall by 13% and fatalities decline by around 50% in the year after it became the country's first major city to impose a 30 kph speed limit in January 2024, and its example was followed this month by the capital Rome.

Bologna's centre-left mayor Matteo Lepore on Wednesday said he remained committed to the measure even after a regional court accepted an appeal by a single taxi driver who argued that lower speeds increased journey times and reduced his earnings.

The city is now preparing a revised ordinance detailing road-by-road justifications for the limit, as demanded by the court, but is also hitting resistance from national Transport Minister Matteo Salvini from the hard-right League party.

Salvini said on Thursday that 30 kph limits and speed cameras were acceptable only in sensitive areas such as near schools or hospitals, and not "when you are declaring war on cars out of ideology."

Blanket speed restrictions are "unenforceable because if you have to get to work or take your kids to school and drive on two- or even three-lane roads, you obviously can't go at 30 kph," he also told public TV channel Rai 1.

In Rome, members of Prime Minister Meloni's rightist Brothers of Italy party called on the centre-left city government to scrap the new 30 kph speed rules there, saying they would otherwise file legal appeals against them.

Bologna Mayor Lepore said after the court ruling that the previous higher speed limits would temporarily return on some streets, but only until the updated measure is approved and Bologna can return to its long-term plan.

He argued the 30 kph limit would eventually prevail all over Italy, following European capitals such as London, Brussels, Paris and Helsinki which have embraced slower, safer streets, in some cases overriding strong opposition from motorists.

-Gavin Jones/Reuters