Photo: hdforums.com
A study recently published by the Associazione Nazionale Esperti Infortunistica Stradale or ANEIS, which stands for the National Association of Road Accidents Experts shows worrying figures as far as road safety is concerned. According to the ANEIS, most of the accidents are caused by the poor condition of the roads and the improper road signage.
The same source adds that while the total number of accidents in Italy is decreasing, the percentages relative to their causes are only looking more dismal by the year. In 2013 official Italian statistics have recorded around 187,700 road accidents which resulted in personal injury, with 3,400 deaths and some 259,000 wounded.
ANEIS says that these problems are anything but new, and the state has been aware of this situation for quite some time now, but still, no decisive actions have been carried out to mend things. A survey on the state of the road signs has been carried out in 2007 and even then the results have been quite dissatisfactory, insella reports.
The 2007 results had been compared to those of the previous survey which took place in 1998 and showed a decline in the condition of the infrastructure. Many of the 12 million road signs in Italy are in need of replacement because they are either out of norm or deteriorated, but such a vast operation is estimated to be as expensive as 3 billion Euros ($3.75 bil).
Until someone decides to make a move in this direction, the victims of road accidents caused by improper signaling and poor road conditions will be seeking for damages and compensations, and lawsuits with 6-digit checks changing hands are not as rare as you might think.
However, getting financial compensation for injuries and damage is still a tricky business, ANEIS president Luigi Cipriano says. The courts will admit the complaints only in certain circumstances, when the victims can probe the road obstacle which caused the crash was not visible, or “unpredictable”, otherwise the driver being responsible for spotting and avoiding it. As far as the signaling is concerned, evidence supporting this claim must be provided before the claims are admitted.
Fact is, it looks like we’ll have to practice extra care in the spring, as the roads and the signs are definitely not going to cater to themselves, by themselves.
Sixty percent of the crashes are related to “external factors”
The Italian road administration says that the records of these crashes indicate that only around 40% are caused by driver distraction, with the remaining cases split almost equally between the inadequate signaling and the poor road conditions.ANEIS says that these problems are anything but new, and the state has been aware of this situation for quite some time now, but still, no decisive actions have been carried out to mend things. A survey on the state of the road signs has been carried out in 2007 and even then the results have been quite dissatisfactory, insella reports.
The 2007 results had been compared to those of the previous survey which took place in 1998 and showed a decline in the condition of the infrastructure. Many of the 12 million road signs in Italy are in need of replacement because they are either out of norm or deteriorated, but such a vast operation is estimated to be as expensive as 3 billion Euros ($3.75 bil).
Until someone decides to make a move in this direction, the victims of road accidents caused by improper signaling and poor road conditions will be seeking for damages and compensations, and lawsuits with 6-digit checks changing hands are not as rare as you might think.
However, getting financial compensation for injuries and damage is still a tricky business, ANEIS president Luigi Cipriano says. The courts will admit the complaints only in certain circumstances, when the victims can probe the road obstacle which caused the crash was not visible, or “unpredictable”, otherwise the driver being responsible for spotting and avoiding it. As far as the signaling is concerned, evidence supporting this claim must be provided before the claims are admitted.
Evidence, evidence, evidence
Not sure how this works if a rider becomes injured in such a crash… is the Italian state expecting that the motorcyclist gets up after being rammed hard into or after crashing badly, take a couple of dozens of photos from all angles (if possible even of himself lying in the middle of the road) and then call 112 (emergency number in Europe)?Fact is, it looks like we’ll have to practice extra care in the spring, as the roads and the signs are definitely not going to cater to themselves, by themselves.
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