Motorists celebrate “Fleximan”: apparently there is a whole group behind the Italian speed trap

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The man with the flex was back. Or, more likely, the men. Or maybe women. No one knows for sure. Anyway, Italy, Europe’s largest speed trap country, now has a few fewer speed cameras: in one night, four orange boxes with cameras were brought down on the streets of the small northern Italian town of Buccinasco. What would actually be just a small report for the local newspaper has now taken on a national dimension: Italy is looking for the “Fleximan” – so called because of its most important instrument.

The case had already started last year. Near the city of Rovigo, also in the north, the first speed camera was sawed off with a cut-off machine. In professional German and Italian: with a flex. Since then, dozens of such cases of criminal damage to property have occurred. Sometimes the police found short confession letters, such as ‘Fleximan sta arrivando’ (‘Fleximan is on his way’). The trail of destruction now stretches from South Tyrol to Calabria, so it is clear: “Fleximan” is more than one. Half a dozen public prosecutors are now working on this.

Speed ​​checks generate high revenues

Many drivers follow the matter with a certain basic sympathy. The feeling of being bullied and excluded by the authorities is also widespread in Italy. Nowhere in Europe are there as many speed checks as here: more than 11,000. For comparison: in Germany there are 4,700. Outside built-up areas the speed limit is usually 90, on highways 110, on highways 130. Controls are relatively strict. Many German holidaymakers also know this because they have received mail from the Italian police. Yet the number of traffic fatalities is higher than anywhere else. In 2022 there were almost 3,200.

There is no doubt that some communities are making good money from the “Autovelox”, as speed traps are called in Italian. Consumer protection organization Codacons has determined, based on figures from the Ministry of the Interior, that the twenty largest cities in the country will earn more than 75 million euros in 2022. The tourist metropolis of Florence alone registered more than 23 million. For the town of Cavallino on State Road 16, deep in the south, purchasing a camera was also worth it: income rose from zero to almost three million within a year.

It is therefore no wonder that Fleximan is praised by some as the “Robin Hood of drivers”. There’s even graffiti now: a figure like the one from the Quentin Tarantino film ‘Kill Bill’ with a sword in one hand and a cut-up speed camera in the other. However, there are also opposing voices – such as journalist Paola di Caro from the renowned newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’, whose 18-year-old son was driven to death. She wrote: “I just want ‘Fleximan’ to feel for one day what I feel when I lay flowers at the spot where my son was murdered.”

‘Fleximan’ risks a prison sentence of up to three years

Many experts are also indignant about the applause for criminal acts. City planner Matto Dondé told the daily La Repubblica: “Where speed cameras are used, the number of deaths and injuries is much lower. That is the only certain fact. Everything else is an opinion.”

The police and the Public Prosecution Service see the same thing. Yet there is no breakthrough in the search: surveillance camera images usually only show figures with a black hood at night. If you are arrested, you can expect heavy fines and up to three years in prison.

The issue has now also developed into a political issue. The right-wing populist Minister of Transport Matteo Salvini in particular has made a name for himself as an advocate for so-called exploited drivers. The leader of the smaller ruling party Lega announced a decree next month to limit the number of speed checks. “If they’re installed overnight on two-lane roads to make money, it’s just another tax.”

Salvini made it clear that he generally does not mind the 50 km/h speed limit on major roads. The ‘Repubblica’ therefore mockingly elevated him to a kind of ‘Fleximan’ of Italian politics. The “Fleximan” has also found imitators in other ways. In Brescia, also in the north, an unknown person has now started removing speed bumps (in Italian: dosso) from the streets in traffic-calmed areas. He was immediately given a name: Dossoman. (SDA)

Source: Blick