The "Smart Police" has arrived: safer pedestrian areas

Is the (new) Highway Code also applied in Catania? It seems so, at least in the city center and considering the data from the first week of Smart Police, which ended with 198 fines issued for illegal parking and violations of the Highway Code, 121 violations in pedestrian areas by two-wheeled vehicles and scooters.

It is Commander Diego Peruga who presents the data to "La Sicilia," specifying that "for scooter users, the most frequent violations concern the absence of a protective helmet and the use of one vehicle by two people, infractions that carry a fine of 50 euros, 35 euros if the violation is paid within the first five days."

"The interventions - is the blunt comment - have tripled compared to the foot patrol service, proving the greater effectiveness and timeliness of intervention in the pedestrian area, as well as in territorial control and parking areas, also in combating illegal parking attendants.

The service, although announced and launched at the beginning of last week, had however surprised citizens on via Etnea, not to mention that the number of fines mentioned is understated if we consider the patient verbal warnings from the agents to those speeding by on scooters, who did not slow down or stop and to whom they repeatedly indicated the need to wear a helmet. Patient and detailed were the responses given to citizens who approached the agents, some grateful and pleased, others explicitly asking in which cases a fine is at risk. One of the most peculiar discoveries? The obligation of a helmet also for bicycles and electric scooters...

In the first two days of “Smart Police,” Monday and Tuesday of last week, fines for illegal parking were 46, while 66 were issued to scooter users, an outrageous number compared to the scooters we saw “abandoned” along via Etnea. In the following days, some helmets were even seen, while some “daring” individuals, after entering the artery and seeing the agents, quickly sought escape routes in the side streets, even against traffic.

Different are the electric scooters, mostly riders, but still used without helmets: in this case, the aggravating factor, noted by the agents, concerns the speed these vehicles can reach, certainly not appropriate in a pedestrian area and which for all electric-powered vehicles must not exceed 6 km/h.

"We hope you also fine the irregular parking under the statue of Garibaldi and in front of Villa Bellini," was one of the specific requests made to the agents, "we would really like to see the local police "smart" even in those pedestrian areas that, however, are still only on paper," say from the Comitato Gemmellaro Sciuti.

The awaited start, hopefully soon, of the shared scooter service by the companies identified by the Municipality in the last awarded tender will see many changes: from the provision of protective helmets to the real-time tracking of the vehicles, registered and insured, with the impossibility of leaving them on the street or on the sidewalks inappropriately.