In Naples, exactly one hundred meters from the place where the SUV hit and killed Sara Romano there should have been a speed bump, designed precisely to force cars not to speed at high speed. The works to create those raised pedestrian crossings were approved by the municipal council last March 25, 40 days ago, but those bumps, which could have saved the life of the twenty-one year old, have not yet been built.
It is dramatic to trace the path of the bureaucracy a few hours after the death of a very young woman, it is painful to read that the danger was known and that the machine had also been set in motion to avoid tragedies, it is horrifying to discover that a less slow bureaucracy could have changed Sara’s fate.
Street Pasquale Leonardi Cattolica it is part of the latest list of roads on which the Municipality has decided to bring more safety. In Naples the most effective way to stop speed fanatics is to set up raised pedestrian crossings that force motorists to slow down. There are currently already sixteen city routes on which speed bumps have been built since 2020, and on all the roads where they have been installed, the results in terms of accident reduction are dramatic.
It started from via Diocleziano And via Bagnoli four years ago, on the basis of the municipal police database which contains all the details of all road accidents in Naples. The streets at greatest risk for mortality have been circled in red and we proceeded methodically: in 2021 there will also be bumps on via Montagna Spaccata, via Arenaccia, Poderico square, Novara course And via Petrarca; in 2022 on via Miano. In 2023, after the endless sequence of investments in the waterfront area, raised pedestrian crossings were created to via Caracciolo, Dohrn Avenue, Sannazaro squarebut also to via Santa Teresa and, higher up, al Corso Amedeo di Savoia. Finally, in November last year we also proceeded via Mario Palermo.
In search of ever greater safety, however, the municipal police asked the municipal council to expand the list of roads to be protected: Corso Vittorio Emanuele, via Terracina and, indeed, off we go Pasquale Leonardi Cattolica.
The first request at‘Anm will be sent on December 1, 2023: present us with a project to create raised pedestrian crossings on these other three roads. In December Anm does not respond to the Municipality, so a train leaves from Palazzo San Giacomo reminder on February 20 this year. Finally an answer arrives: there is the project and the Municipality explains that the funds for these interventions are also included in the annual 900 thousand euro agreement with ANM for horizontal signs. We just have to proceed. And the March 24th when the mayor and councilors decide to “entrust the implementation of this act to the competent offices”. From that day on, nothing happens anymore.
From Anm the general manager Francesco Favo explains that the final approval arrived from Palazzo San Giacomo only on April 18th and that the procedures for the search for materials and a possible subcontracting company are underway.
In the meantime, three others remain without bumps killer roads of Naples, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, via Terracina and via Cattolica. The accident report on these routes in the city is impressive: on these three roads alone, in the last four years there have been 417 road accidents causing a total of 294 injuries. But the most impressive figure is the eight deaths, including poor Sara.
Now is the time to act, fast.
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