During European Mobility Week, an informal meeting of the 28 European Ministers of Transport took place in Milan. The question was raised if Italy is really promoting the daily use of bicycle in its cities.

The Italian Parliament is presently discussing a package of reforms of the Road Code which should encourage sustainable mobility. However, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Maurizio Lupi, has stated that he is against the introduction of contraflow; a measure that would allow bicycles to move more freely in traffic, which has already been taken up by many European cities.

The demand to introduce contraflow for bicycles is also supported by ANCI (Associazione Nazionale Comuni d'Italia), the federation of Italian municipalities, and by other environmental associations with the objective of increasing the number of cyclists in urban centers with 30-km limits on their streets. This would be a low-cost measure to complete the existing bicycle network, thus fostering the use of two wheels.

Edoardo Galatola, responsible for safety at FIAB, points out how the debate in Parliament has so far failed to address the question of safety, by neglecting to consider statistical data. In fact, in Italy 80% of all accidents concerning cyclists is lateral and only 8% is frontal. Of these, the percentage in 30-km zones is not significant. On the contrary, 60% of accidents in urban areas occur at crossings and half of these at signaled crossings. This confirms, without any possibility of doubt, that what protects cyclists is not traffic lights, but reduced speed and visibility.

As pointed out by Brussels Bicycle Manager, Frederik Depoortere, when invited by FIAB to talk in Rome in the presence of the group of bike-friendly MPs, 85% of one-way streets in the Belgian capital – about 400 kms - have been made accessible to cyclists riding against the flow.

According to a study carried out over three years, only 5% of all accidents concerning cyclists took place in streets allowing contraflow and of these only half were moving against the flow. The other 95% took place in same-direction streets. Mr. Galatola thus concludes that "the measure would not increase the number of accidents, as feared. Indeed, data suggest the contrary without any possibility of doubt. There are cities in Italy like Bozen, Reggio Emilia, Ferrara, Lodi and so on, that have already introduced contraflow on an experimental basis. As a result overall bicycle use has increased by 9% and accidents have decreased by 6%."

FIAB, ANCI and some of the mayors propose to open a discussion forum with the Transport Ministry which would take into account existing data of consolidated experiences, allowing Parliament to take the right decisions to lower traffic and to guarantee the safety of all road users. Mrs. Pagliaccio, President of FIAB, invites Minister Lupi to reconsider his decisions based on existing statistics on non-motorized victims of road accidents, with the aim of encouraging sustainable mobility, as asked by the European Union.