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Parking & Moving Vilolation Ticket in Turin, Italy

Posted by on

Hello Fellow Travelers,
We travelled to Italy in September, 2015. While on the trip we park in a "blue zone" area in the city of Turin, Italy.
When we got back home, we paid the ticket through a bank wire transfer. It was a lot of work to pay this ticket, but we carried on to do the right thing. ( As a side note, neither Avis nor or Credit Card company backed us on our efforts)

Now, over one year later we received a moving violation ticket for supposedly driving in a pedestrian or restricted area without the proper authorization. This was also in the city of Turin, Italy. There was no signage telling us that we couldn't drive on the road, which was being used by other drivers. The Turin Police department sent this ticket via certified letter. The minimum amount to pay this ticket is 100 Euros(if paid within 5 days), and then increases (E124,60) if not paid within 60 days or more (E206,60) if not paid after 60 day time period.

Has anyone else experienced this long delay period between in receiving at ticket for a moving violation in Italy?
We paid the parking ticket, but not sure we want to pay the moving violation ticket.

Thanks for your input on the topic.

Bruce

Posted by
4 posts

Hello T,
Thank you for supplying the information about traffic violations in Italy. We'll (reluctantly) pay this fine.
I guess the old expression; "When in Rome, does as the Romans", applies to traffic fines. So, we'll just need
to be extra cautious the next time we go to Italy, or another foreign country.

Thank you,

Bruce

Posted by
4535 posts

The ZTL (traffic restricted area) would have been marked and the other traffic likely had authorization to travel in the ZTL (or they got tickets like you). It is not at all unusual for Italian cities and towns to take months to process and forward tickets.

Your rental agency also probably charged you a fee for each inquiry from the authorities and turning over your contact info. But the agencies don't pay the fines; those are passed on to the renter.

Driving in Italy can be a mess of restrictions and strict enforcement of traffic rules (like speed limits). Almost all of it is enforced by camera and the cameras do not offer much leeway.

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks to everyone responding to my parking/moving violations in Italy!
Greatly appreciated,
Bruce

Posted by
15204 posts

The authorities have 90 days to notify the owner of the vehicle (in your case the rental company).
For rental cars, the rental company has 60 days from the above notification to communicate to the authorities the name of the person (the renter) who was driving the vehicle at the time of the recorded infraction.
Once the authorities receive communication of the actual driver from the rental company, the authorities have:
- 90 days to notify the driver of the rental vehicle, if the driver resides in Italy.
-360 days to notify the driver of the rental vehicle, if the renter resides outside of Italy.
If the above time limits have passed, the fine is null and void.
So, technically, a fine could be notified to you after 510 days (90+60+360) from the day you committed the infraction with the rental car.

Regarding the fine you received, the Turin ZTL is below.
If you enter during the hours of operation (or at all times in the 'yellow' pedestrianized area on the map called ZTL Pedonale), a camera will have taken a photo of your car entering the zone. If other cars were entering, it doesn't mean you could. Those cars probably were driven by residents with permit, or others who had a temporary permit to enter. If you didn't have a permit, you were not authorized to enter.
http://www.comune.torino.it/trasporti/bm~doc/ztl_2015_1-2.pdf

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