In 2022 with the resumption of mobility, after the months of the pandemic, we unfortunately witnessed an increase in the number of road accidents and victims.
The data provided by the Traffic Police shows an increase in overall accidents of 7.1%, exactly 70,554 against the 65,852 recorded in 2021. Fatal accidents and victims increased by 7.8% and 11.1% respectively . Accidents with injuries, 28,914, and injured people, 42,300, grew by 8.4% and 10.6%.
The main causes of accidents are the use of smartphones while driving, falling asleep and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The traffic police report showed that in 2022, drivers checked with a breathalyzer were 415,995, of whom 13,448 were fined for driving while intoxicated while 1,181 were reported for driving under the influence of drugs.
In 2022, there were 421,973 speeding violations, a total of 30,560 driving licenses were withdrawn, 40,019 vehicle registration certificates and 2,120,631 points were deducted from licenses.
It has often been thought of tightening the penalties to discourage the use of the telephone while driving, the idea was to double the amount of the current fines and to suspend the license from the first violation. This hypothesis has never been carried out, to date those who are caught driving with a smartphone incur a fine ranging from 160 to 646 euros with the deduction of 5 points from the license; the suspension of the license up to three months is applied in case of recidivism.
Unfortunately the most worrying data are those concerning young people, since the beginning of 2023 there are 195 victims of road accidents; 73 were under 35 years old.
From the last relationship Aci-Istat, it appears that the days of the week in which the highest number of accidents are recorded are Friday and then Saturday, unfortunately the highest number of victims is recorded during Saturday.
In the 18-24 age group, the percentage of deaths as passengers is very high, approximately 34% out of a total of 332 cases.
This is a phenomenon that does not only concern Italy, unfortunately in the European Union, road accidents in the age group between 18 and 24 cause the death of the driver or the passenger next to him in 64% of cases.
Increasingly worrying data that have prompted the birth of various initiatives to promote awareness of the issue among the youngest.
Among these, the “Pullman Azzurro” project, an initiative created thanks to the collaboration between SIDA AutoSoft Multimedia and the Traffic Police. The project aims to empower young drivers and push them towards “safe driving”, to avoid risky behavior behind the wheel.
Pullman Azzurro is an itinerant didactic classroom which, through activities and driving simulators, has shown young people how risky it is not to pay attention and to adopt dangerous driving behaviors.
By Martina Hamdy
