New highway code: alcohol and drugs, all the news

Iron fist against alcohol and drug driving, at least on a formal level. It is a very important start, which however must be accompanied as soon as possible by adequate resources to strengthen the personnel, equipment and specific training of the police forces, which are entrusted with the task of carrying out checks. The partial revision of the Highway Code, as set out in the bill approved on 27 June by the Council of Ministers (assuming that parliamentary examination generally involves more or less extensive changes, precisely due to the prerogative that the Constitution entrusts to the chambers), its cornerstone is the tightening of sanctions and penalties for those who get behind the wheel after having taken alcohol or drugs. Let us analyze the details of this aspect of the measure.

Highway Code: zero alcohol for repeat offenders

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First of all, we intervene on repeat offenders: those who have already been sentenced in the most serious forms provided for by article 186 of the Highway Code, therefore with a blood alcohol level higher than 0.8 grams per litre, will see the code “68 – no alcohol”, as required by a 2006 European directive. You must not drink alcohol, full stop. After two years (if the sentence is for alcohol between 0.8 and 1.5 grams) or three (over 1.5 grams), if these crimes are not repeated, the “vignette” is removed after reviewing the licence.

Driving while intoxicated: the new fines

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The penalties for anyone driving while intoxicated are increased by a third. Consequently, the new amounts become: from 724 to 2,893 euros for those who drive with a blood alcohol content of 0.5 to 0.8 grams per litre, in addition to the suspension of the license from four to eight months; from 1,067 to 4,267 euros and imprisonment of up to eight months if the rate is between 0.8 and 1.5 grams; from 2,000 to 8,000 euros, arrest from eight to sixteen months, suspension of the license from 16 to 32 months and confiscation of the vehicle if the rate exceeds 1.5 grams.

Driving Drugged: Altered status no longer counts

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Another important novelty concerns the approach to the crime of driving under the influence of drugs. The criterion of the “state of alteration” and therefore of the effect itself is no longer valid. To break the law it becomes enough to take these substances. The evaluation of the consequence of this act in the organism, precisely the psycho-physical alteration, no longer counts. These expressions are suppressed by article 187 of the Highway Code, which takes the name of “Driving after taking drugs”, instead of “Driving in a state of psycho-physical impairment due to the use of drugs”.

Drugs and alcohol: controls

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Another not insignificant novelty: currently, in the event of a positive outcome of the first checks carried out on the spot and pending the results of the more in-depth tests, the agents can withdraw the license and hold it for up to ten days. But nothing physically prevents the fined driver from continuing to drive at that moment. Now, however, the amendments to article 187 prescribe that the agents, in addition to withdrawing the license for a maximum of ten days, can also immediately prevent the driver from continuing to drive the vehicle. If no other suitable person is present or instantly available, the vehicle is transported to the nearest garage or to a place indicated by the driver, the costs always at his expense. Furthermore, the prefect orders a medical examination to be carried out within sixty days, during which the license remains suspended.

License revocation

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Among the various amendments to article 187 of the Highway Code, one of the most relevant concerns the revocation of the driving license for three years if someone who relapses driving after taking alcohol or drugs (therefore with the mark “68 – zero alcohol” on the driving), after the checks he is again unfit. So whether he was driving drugged or drunk at the time he was stopped. After three years, not before, he will be able to go through the whole procedure to obtain a new licence. If the driver is under the age of 21, he will not be able to obtain a new license until he turns 24. If, on the other hand, the driver is fit to drive after the medical examination, his license is only valid for one year. At the next renewal, the validity will be three years and five at the following renewal.

The alcohol lock

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The goal is to prevent driving if you have been drinking. The bill approved by the Council of Ministers on 27 June adds a new paragraph (3-ter) to article 125 of the Highway Code, the section which lists the different types of driving license with related validity. Anyone who has the code “68 – no alcohol” on their license can drive motor vehicles on Italian territory only if they are equipped (installed at their own expense) with a functioning device that prevents the engine from starting in the event of a blood alcohol content of driver above zero. It is the so-called “alcolock”. The technical modalities will be defined within six months of the entry into force of the law through a decree of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport. Offenders are subject to a fine of up to 1,276 euros and suspension of their license from two months to one year.