Two inversely proportional figures in Italy: on the one hand we smile at a strong reduction, on the other the rise of cannibal thefts is worrying.
Italy is the country of paradoxes, contradictions, everything and its exact opposite. Italians, a little more sensible in terms of road driving. The traffic police data says so based on the activity carried out throughout 2023, which could even be improved in 2024, which started with the accelerator pressed.
The data shows one side of the coin. A smiling face, a symptom of a population that has made a clear U-turn in terms of past road accidents 45,387 to 44,778. That smile becomes applause upon learning that fatal accidents have dropped from 521 to 449.
The figure becomes even stronger if we think of a 17.1% reduction in deaths. But also the injured: from 16,402 to 15,760. A nice -2.7%. Italians are people who finally have common sense on the roads? Yes. But Italians have also become a nation of thieves.
We have a problem compared to all of Europe. It is the bitter observation that 2023 has left us as a legacy, and the analysts’ forecasts are not at all positive in this 2024 where the echo of the boom in vehicle thefts is reaching strong growth peaks, directly proportional to the concern of citizens.
Merciless numbers, all we were missing was the cannable thefts
2023 has left us a 7% growth in vehicle thefts in Italy. In the last decade we have reached over one and a half million: not even half of the vehicles were found, all the others routed to foreign markets or cannibalised and used to fuel the black market in spare parts.
We are the worst in Europe, second only to France, who knows for how long given that the stats of our neighbors are in sharp decline in 2024, in our country they are on the rise, there are those who even talk about a boom. How can you blame him?
The Black Audi Gang
The big flaw in Puglia, one of the most beautiful regions in Italy where you can eat like a Michelin star, is car theft. The operational base of the sadly famous Black Audi Gang was discovered in Palombara: sixteen shots were scored from Bari to Molfettaso to speak.
A damn well working modus operandi: stolen vehicles cannibalised, most of us ended up in the seats of an elegant and comfortable Giulietta at first, later replaced with a black Audi Rs3. Hence that nickname of a gang that not only made cars disappear, but reduced them to carcasses. Three arrests on charges of theft and money laundering, to put the icing on a spoiled cake, the age of the suspects: between 22 and 25 years old!
