The driveway, also called driveway, is a small private access onto a public road and, for this reason, is regulated very precisely
In a country, like Italy, where there are more and more cars (over 39.6 million) and less and less free parking (municipalities are generally obliged to maintain “adequate spaces” for free parking), having a garage for private parking, or at least a shared space, has become a real luxury. Whoever has it, then, to have the guarantee that no one parks in front of the garage entrance is required to ask for, pay and obtain a driveway. Also called “driveway”, the driveway is mentioned in article 3 of the Highway Code and is then regulated in detail in the following article 22.
DRIVEWAY: THE NORM
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L’article 3 of the Highway Code says that a driveway is, simply, “access to a side area suitable for parking one or more vehicles”. Instead thearticle 22 explains that to obtain a driveway, with an attached parking ban on the corresponding stretch of public road, it is necessary to ask for authorization from the body that owns the road. The driveway must always be indicated with the appropriate sign and, once established and released by the Authority, it cannot be subsequently modified (for example widened) without a further pronouncement from the Authority itself. The Municipality, or any other body that owns the road onto which the driveway overlooks, can decide how much to charge the citizen for the concession of the driveway. To obtain the driveway, in fact, it is necessary to pay (every year) the public land occupation tax for the stretch of road that is closed to parking. The driveway is free, however, for disabled people, public administrations, judicial offices and law enforcement buildings. In specific cases, such as in very narrow streets, it is possible to request that the space on the other side of the road also be reserved, in order to allow the car to maneuver when exiting the driveway.
DRIVEWAY: THE LIMITS
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It is not possible to transform any road access into a driveway: there are very precise limits to be respected. The most stringent limit is that of the minimum distance between the driveway and a possible crossroads or intersection with another road: at least 12 meters, in order to guarantee the visibility of a vehicle exiting the driveway and which, very often, has very little visibility. For this reason, the driveway can never be allowed at a distance lower than the braking distance (a distance that depends on the maximum speed allowed on that stretch of road). Municipalities, in specific cases, can grant exceptions to these minimum distances and, in any case, can grant temporary driveways in the case of construction sites.
DRIVEWAY: THE SIGN
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It is not at all sufficient to put up a handwritten sign to indicate a driveway. On the contrary, there are rules to follow for the signal too: it must show the standard design (red prohibition on a blue background, circular), must indicate the name of the Municipality and the symbol, the writing “driveway” and, finally, must indicate the number and year of themunicipal authorization. The dimensions of the driveway sign are also standard: 45×45 centimeters, or 60×40 centimeters. A sign without this clearly visible data is not compliant and, consequently, neither is the driveway.
DRIVEWAY: THE FINE
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If all these requirements are met, then the driveway is compliant and no one can park their car in this space. However, a short stop is permitted for loading and unloading of goods or people. The fine for parking in front of a driveway goes from 25 to 100 euros for motorbikes, from 42 to 173 euros for other vehicles. The cost of the tow truck and storage must be added to this figure.
DRIVEWAY: THE TOW TRUCK
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Is the owner of the driveway authorized to call the tow truck to remove a vehicle parked in front of the reserved access? The answer is no: the only authorized entities The agents of the Local Police or other law enforcement agencies do this. Once the police arrive on site, they verify the validity of the authorization indicated on the driveway sign and, if everything is in order, they proceed to fine the parked car and call the tow truck to remove it. In recent years, this detail has become a huge problem for driveway owners: very often, in fact, municipalities do not have enough municipal police officers to respond within a reasonable time to all calls for occupation of driveways.
DRIVEWAY AND PRIVATE VIOLENCE
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Finally, there is an extreme case to mention when talking about the driveway: that of the car owner who prevents the rightful owner from leaving the driveway, despite the fact that they are both present on site. In this case the owner of the driveway can report the other motorist: the crime is private violence and involves imprisonment of up to four years.
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