Speed camera fines, stop to photos in reports: the news

The use of speed cameras to fine drivers who do not respect speed limits is set to undergo profound changes.
Part of the new rules is due to the reform of the 2024 Highway Code, which reformulates part of the sanctioning regulations, especially with regard to multiple fines.
Then, an ad hoc decree from the Ministry of Transport is arriving, ready to regulate the use of speed detection devices, intervening on requirements and approval.
But that is not all.
Speed camera fines have been the subject of discussion between the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure and the Privacy Guarantor.
The latter, in particular, dedicated attention to the photos taken by the devices, their storage and sending to users.
The ministerial decree is about to make changes in this sense too, in search of a fair compromise between the right to privacy and the fairness of sanctions with respect to the means of proof.
The new rules that respond to these principles, moreover, have also been encouraged by numerous episodes that have become media coverage with scandals and discoveries brought about by photos of speed cameras at their centre.
A necessary intervention to protect confidentiality, which will also make it more difficult to discover betrayals, indiscretions and so on.
Let's see what's new.
Stop photos in speed camera fines, what changes The Privacy Guarantor and the minister Matteo Salvini have decided to review the rules regarding the photos taken by speed cameras at the time of the infringement and above all their sending to drivers.
As everyone knows, in fact, anyone who gets a fine via speed camera detection then receives a copy of the report at their home (within 90 days).
The report contains the relevant data on the violation, but also the photos taken by the device which attest to the violation and the driver.
Here, according to the ministerial decree approved by the GDP, it will no longer be possible to receive the offending photos at home.
Although these are fundamental documents for proving the violation, especially in the event that there are oppositions and disputes, it is in fact very likely that sending them to your home will result in them being viewed by people who are not explicitly authorized.
read also Speed camera fines easier to cancel, here's why For this reason, the decree has established that the reports sent as a copy to the sanctioned driver can no longer contain the photos of the investigation, which will remain kept by the authority.
In fact, citizens do not lose the opportunity to check them and use them as evidence in the event of an appeal.
In fact, through the latter, the appellant will be able to request access to the photos of the speed camera, useful for the dispute with the Justice of the Peace or the Prefect.
The drivers' rights are thus not violated and it is ensured that the sanctions are commensurate with the violation.
At the same time, this decision is likely to constitute an inadvertent deterrent to appeals themselves.
In fact, it must be considered that you will no longer have the possibility of evaluating the photographs and consequently the feasibility of the appeal to decide what to do.
In this regard, it is remembered that whoever loses the case is condemned to pay the court costs, if the other party has been assisted by a lawyer.
If you lose your appeal to the Prefect, however, the penalty increases to approximately double.
In addition to sending photos to the driver's home, the decree aims to protect the privacy of other drivers and road agents.
In particular, it will be permissible to take and store photos only in the event of an infringement, despite always active monitoring, and frontal detections of vehicles will only be permitted with the automatic obscuring of the faces of third parties and the license plates of third-party vehicles possibly included in the shot.
read also How much does it cost to appeal a fine?