NEW RULES FROM TEXT ON ROAD SAFETY MUST BE APPROVED BY THE SENATE WHEN PARLIAMENT RESUMES WORK

Up to 15 years in prison if you are driving with a BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) greater than 1.5 milligrams per liter or under the influence of drugs and cause a fatal accident involving several people. The new text provides for road safety to be approved by the Senate when Parliament resumes work.

The House approved the new rules - among which, the introduction of zero tax for new licensees under 21 and the opportunity for traffic police to conduct tests to detect the presence of drugs on streets - in late July. The text approval was stopped in the Senate, because the senators rejected the ultimatum of colleagues who asked to approve it quickly and make no changes before summer holidays. Currently, driving under the influence of alcohol is sanctioned by Article 186 of the Highway Code and is a crime within court jurisdiction.

With the decree law (ratified by Law 125 of July 2008) sentences had already been increased for anyone with a BAC between 0.5 and 0.8 milligrams per liter: a fine from 500 to 2,000 euros and license suspended from three to six months. Anyone found with a BAC between 0.8 and 1.5, the fine can be between 800 and 3,200 euros, imprisonment up to 6 months and license suspended for 6 months to 1 year. Finally, anyone caught with a blood-alcohol content greater than 1.5, shall pay a fine between 1,500 and 6,000 euros and serve a sentence from a minimum of 6 months to one year. Also contemplated is a sentence of license suspended from 1 to 2 years and confiscation of the vehicle.

Recently the Minister of Agriculture Luca Zaia said that road accidents caused by alcohol are only 2% of the total and therefore wine is not to blame for road massacres: “Alcohol and driving go together and drinking two glasses of wine per meal is considered within the 0.5 milligram limit of alcohol permitted by law. It is unacceptable to consider anyone who drinks two glasses of wine a drunk-driver”.