New Highway Code, here's how the sanctions change: higher fines for dangerous conduct

Eight hundred and twenty-four traffic violations, of which 124 are completely new and therefore not present in the current Highway Code. And a reduction in the amount bands from 82 to 27. The new Highway Code redesigned by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini and approved with preliminary examination by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday (entry into force is scheduled for 1 January 2028) redesigns the entire system of fines: a reorganization which concentrates the increases on the conduct considered most dangerous, introduces specific sanctions for behaviors hitherto traced back to general rules and changes the calculation of excesses of speed gradually and proportionate to the violation.

The declared objective is to overcome the "fragmentation and stratification of the current regulations", as the Technical Report of the legislative decree approved by the government puts it in black and white. The effect on revenue, however, remains to be measured: the same report clarifies that it is not possible to quantify the consequences of the reform on overall revenue but that in any case "the result is a generalized neutrality of the reorganization compared to the amounts in force".

The new bands start from 25-100 euros, continue with 40-160, 80-320 and 150-600 euros and so on. The maximum is set at four times the minimum, which is the amount ordinarily applied in the reports with reduced payment. The 124 added cases cannot be superimposed on new obligations not previously contemplated. The report explains that they also serve to bring into primary legislation sanctions provided for by the regulation or obtained through interpretations of the general rules that the current Highway Code ignored. The intent is to "explain substantial obligations, limits or prohibitions in many cases already deducible from the general rules", thus defining a new map of road violations.

Among the increases, failure to respect the right of way when changing lanes goes from 42-173 to 80-320 euros.

The same range is provided for those who do not give priority when maneuvering into traffic, reversing or turning around.