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news
Michele Scarponi (picture - ANSA-PERI).jpgMotorist in crash that killed Michele Scarponi reportedly admitted he was watching a video on his phone
The motorist involved in the crash last April that resulted in the death of 2011 Giro d’Italia champion Michele Scarponi reportedly admitted to authorities investigating the incident that he had been watching a video on his phone at the time of the fatal collision.
Scarponi was on a training ride in his home town of Filottrano in Italy’s Marche region ahead of this year’s 100th edition of the race when he was hit by a van at a junction where he had right of way.
In the immediate aftermath of the collision, the van driver, who is due to go on trial shortly on charges of manslaughter, claimed he had been blinded by the sun.
Now, however, Tuttobiciweb reports that he had told investigators that he was watching a video on his phone.
The website notes that not only does Italy have the highest rates of car ownership in Europe as well as the most elevated level of mobile phone ownership, but also has one of the worst road safety records for cyclists, 338 of whom lost their lives in 2016.
As a result, legislation currently before the Italian parliament may result in drivers caught using a mobile phone at the wheel to have their licences suspended.
This weekend’s Overtime sports festival in Macerata in Scarponi’s home region commemorated the 37-year-old Astana rider, who a week before his death had won opening stage of the Tour of the Alps, the successor race to the Giro del Trentino.
Among those to pay tribute to him was the former world champion Francesco Moser, who said: “I commentated on his final victory, a success that went beyond all predictions.
Scarponi finished the race in fifth position overall.
“The next day they told me he had died,” Moser said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
He added: “Everyone in the peloton mourned him, because he was an example.”
Scarponi’s brother Marco was also present at the event. He said: “Michele was talented, but to become a professional he had the help of something fundamental – his family.
“His family created the perfect environment to allow him to express to the maximum his innate qualities and gifts.
“No man is an island. On our own, we go nowhere.
“Michele had grandparents who accompanied him to training sessions. His mother and father followed him around Italy, a country in which he was a hero. And he became a champion.
“Then he became a father, he grew up. Previously, he always wanted to win and didn’t know how to lose.
“At that point he became transformed into becoming a domestique for his rival Nibali.
“The choice of a man, because he had already won.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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30 comments
I agree that simply deducing that "cycling in the UK is 3x safer than in Italy" from those numbers isn't warranted (or useful). But I didn't adjust for modal share because up-to-date country-wide numbers are near impossible to come by for many countries. And even city-wide data is often a fool's errand outside major cities.
According to cityclock.org, Florence's cycling modal share, for example, is estimated to be between 4-20%. If that's not enough of a red flag, Bogota's listed at 2%. Yet the idea that Florence's cycling share is half as much as Bogota's, let alone twice as much, seems complely incongrous with my expierience of both. And that's the low end estimate. Also, while it obviously isn't a complete proxy for modal share, bike sales in the UK in units are nearly twice of those in Italy. So I seriously doubt Italian cycling modal share is significantly higher, let alone multiples higher, than the UK's, but YMMV.
In any case, the gist of my point is that Italy is no cycling safety haven (and the anecdotes above also seem to, at least qualitatively, support that case), and that while cycle safety in the UK could surely improve, Denmark or the Netherlands may well be better examples of a way forward.
For reference: http://road.cc/content/news/84883-uk-ranked-europes-10th-most-cycle-frie...
The stat tripling UK deaths might need to be tempered somewhat before the drawing of any conclusion regarding cycling in Italy being 3 times as unsafe. In some smaller university cities (eg Bologna) there are bikes everywhere - massive modal share on a scale probably in line with Oxford here...
But Bologna isn't a one-off - other university towns are the same, and still others like Venice and Florence pop up on modal share articles every now and then.
I wouldn't pat the UK on the back, even compared to Italy: a 2% modal share is pathetic. A quick Google suggests it's 5% in Italy.
"As a result, legislation currently before the Italian parliament may result in drivers caught using a mobile phone at the wheel to have their licences suspended."
This doesn't strike me as too bad an example to follow. Of course, whether it'll get passed or not is another thing.
Doodly, I think the issue is that you haven't said "I hope the UK follows the Itallian idea before the courts to ban a driver if caught using their mobile (if indeed they pass it)".
As for the stats:
Italy does have the highest phone ownership but it's a poiintless number, they own around 1.8 phones per person, usually because the signal is pretty terrible so they have 2 networks. The only factor here is whether they then use both whilst driving (wouldn't surprise me). With UK mobile penetration over 90% and the vast majority being smartphones, the problems are just as big as Italy.
The 1.6% versus 9% is bad twice over. Firstly, it's not under 2%, the RAC link above states 31% and I commented on that article that if that's how many admit it then in all likeliood it is double that. Also, from running surveys across the big 5 European countries, I can tell you that Italians are always a good 30% chirpier on surveys, even when admitting stupid things. If 60% liked something in the other countries, it was usually towards 80% in Italy.
Yes, this was my job.
Yes, you've summed it up nicely for me. I'm still bemused why one of the people commenting on here took my words and assumed I wanted us to follow every Italian road law.
I'm glad you could see what I was saying.
I'm sick of seeing blatant mobile phone use (two tonight on my commute home), and I think driving bans are the only real option to make people think twice.
I should add to my comments above that a majority of the cyclists (and pedestrians) I saw in Padua were on their phones.
A cyclist on their phone has very limited capacity for causing harm. A driver, distracted, could easily plough through a crowd of people on a pedestrian crossing. Totally different risk profile.
I think the argument here is that the Italians are looking to change the law to suspend the license of anyone caught using their phone, this is the lead the UK government should be following, it's a shame it took a high profile death for this to be brought about.
If it was made a two year ban for using a mobile phone and a five year ban if you cause an accident while using one it'd likely make quite a few people stop and think about it (especially if they started to accept dashcam/helmet cam footage as evidence).
I have lived and cycled in Italy for 24 years.
One important fact overlooked in many of the arguments here is that having legislation is one thing, but having a police force that enforce that regulation is another. Italy has many, many laws, but the number of people I see every day here holding mobile phones and talking whilst driving is beyond belief, and far higher than what I have ever seen in the UK or France. I have even spoken to the security where I work about asking them to intervene with people who drive in and out of the Sky Italy campus whislt using their phones, and I'm told that "it's not their problem".
I both cycle and drive here, and you rarely see a police car stopping someone, but you always see cars speeding (I would estimate that over 75% of the cars in Rome speed when the traffic allows it), cars are double or tripled parked, close passes are normal, lane control is almost non existent.
In my time here I've been hit by a policeman opening his car door without looking (broke my T4 vertabrae), hit by a taxi (broke my left femur), and countless other smaller incidents.
Legislation is good, but it needs to be enforced. I can only hope that this terribly sad incident leads to a wholescale change in the policing here, but I sadly doubt it.
I'm just back from a week in Padua, the city teems with people on bikes. They were in street clothes, on 'Dutch' bikes and sans helmets. I saw only one rider in lycra during the week.
No cyclists looked intimidated and motorists were respectful to bikes and pedestrians, so I'm surprised by the comments by people who live and ride in Italy.
I guess that Padua being a university city with many students getting around by bike accounts for the difference.
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/shock-statistics-reveal-a...
From the survey the amount of UK drivers who admit to using a phone while driving is 31%
I have been living in northern tuscany for just over a year and the only saving grace in these parts are the quiet mountain roads. There is no minimum distance pass law here unlike in the UK. Germany, france, spain and even portugal have a min pass distance of 1.5m. Here in Italy it's at the driver's discretion! The main roads can be brutal to cycle on and cars frequently pass really close. Unfortunately i have to use a main road to get to some of the mountain roads which is really unpleasent. Riding 2 abreast is playing russian roulette. I ride around on a scooter as well and have the additional problem of drivers trying to bully me by driving up close to the point where i give in and pull over to let them go. Don't see a lot of cyclists around here, especially in the autumn. The only thing that saves Italy in my opinion as a country to cycle in are the mountains where one can truly escape from the impatient nutters on the roads below.
There's no minimum distance in UK law either, however if you're lucky enough to be in a police force area that is operating a close pass initiative, they use 1.5m as the guideline.
Here's what I can tell you. The in-laws live in Italy, in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, but it's been a springboard for many weeks with and without them, travelling around a beautiful country with fantastic food and brilliant characters.
Put those characters behind a wheel and they are selfish, dangerous, manic idiots. Nearly every single one of them.
I wouldn't cycle there if you paid me.
We were in Italy for a day as I supported friends on a Raid alpine jaunt, the difference in driving standard from mixing it with mostly French to Italians was significant, as for Italian motorbike riders, proper cunts, selfish fuckers only interested in themselves and fuck safety, that would be approximately 99% of them.
My grandad always used to say never trust an eyetie, can't drive for shit especially in them tanks as they're always going backwards
What a tragedy. It just shows that anecdotal evidence is worth nothing... On the few occasions when I have cycled in Italy it felt like drivers were more courteous to cyclists, if not to other drivers.
If you want roads to get safer and drivers to stop using their mobile phones, then the UK must do everything it can to avoid the "Italian lead".
Yep. I understand the frustration. I think we all do. But I don't find it helpful to quickly work things up into outrage and yet not bothered enough to do some research. Or even read the article carefully, where which points out that there were 338 cyclists killed in Italy last year (the number was 100 for the more populous UK in 2015, for reference).
The takeaway for me if that if (and it seems to be a big if) Italy is taking actual steps to make cycling safer then that'a great. But it hardly seems to be an example worth following. Particularly when better archetypes are at hand.
I think I've landed in cloud-cuckoo land. This is a cycling site isn't it?
Yes...the UK is shocking and should improve drastically. But to think we should follow the Italian lead is at best hopelessly naieve and at worst utterly moronic.
If you're caught using a mobile phone while driving there you get a fine. That's it. A fine. No points.
There is 30% support for zero tolerance of mobile phone usage while driving in Italy (in the UK it is 60%). The UK rate for phone usage while driving sits at about 1.6%, its 9% in Italy.
And don't even get me started on their attitude to drink driving... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11763988/Italian-...
Italy is utterly the worst country in the world for driver entitlement - only a moronic motorist would want follow their lead in anything related to cycling or driving.
And I think you've missed my point entirely. I put up my words, and you really didn't read them, lobbed an insult back and invented things I've apparantly said.
Let me make it clear for you
I want the UK government to change the law so that a driving licence is revoked if a driver is caught using a mobile phone at the wheel.
I ride a bike every single day and the amount of people I see flouting this law is incredible.
This isn't cloud cuckoo land. It is a site for cyclists, like me, who wish to take to the roads and remain alive.
I don't ride in Italy, so it's kind of hard for me to quibble with your data from there, but judging by the number of drivers I see on a mobile phone every day in the UK, I'm going to have to quibble with your assertion that only 1.6% of UK drivers use a mobile phone. Perhaps this is the number of drivers who actually admit it? I'd say the figure was at least ten times that , and more likely twenty times.
Just because they aren't on their phone all the time they are driving doesn't mean that they won't take the odd call, after all, what harm can it do, and anyway, everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I?
Phone driving has been shown to be as risky as drink driving, but because our car obsessed government doesn't want to offend drivers, the punishment is much less than for drink driving, and the chances of being caught are much less; why? If they cared about road safety, phone driving would have had the same penalties from the start, instead of the penalties being a slapped wrist, recently doubled to two slapped wrists.
I do not, for a second, believe either of these numbers.
Terrible tragedy.
If only the ignorant UK government would act accordingly.
It happened in Italy. To an Italian. By an Italian. What do you want the UK government to do? Declare war?
Lets see...
Italy has roads...so does the UK
Italy has morons who get behind the wheel and consider their phone use more important than being aware of surroundings...so does the UK
Italy has seemingly acted on a problem...so should the UK government
Indeed the UK government has already acted, by doubling a completely ineffective penalty, so that it is still ineffective. It is time that the technology caught up with driving, we can't wait for autonomous vehicles, we need drivers to be prevented from making telephone calls, texting or watching videos now. Driving is a very complex task and any reduction in concentration on that task will inevitably lead to errors, which could end in death.
Those of us over a certain age will remember the slogan "driving is too important to do anything else." That could be rewritten today as "anything else is more important than driving."
You seriously want the UK governement to act like the Italians? The most cyclists murdered by drivers in Europe. The most lax driver responsibility laws in Europe. Literally the the biggest joke of a legal system in the world. You want us to act like them? They killed nearly 3 times as many cyclists there last year than in the UK. The driver will not serve a single day in jail. And you say we should act like them? What are you on?
We need to drastically and urgently improve, but to say the UK government should regress to the Italian system is to take a step back to 1963.
You seriously want the UK governement to act like the Italians? The most cyclists murdered by drivers in Europe. The most lax driver responsibility laws in Europe. Literally the the biggest joke of a legal system in the world. You want us to act like them? They killed nearly 3 times as many cyclists there last year than in the UK. The driver will not serve a single day in jail. And you say we should act like them? What are you on?
We need to drastically and urgently improve, but to say the UK government should regress to the Italian system is to take a step back to 1963.
Right oh, if you say so. ( you must be a brexthicker)
Nope. Why? Do remain voters want more cyclists murdered with less accountability for the murderes? If so, I wish i had voted to leave.
Thanks for taking my words and extrapolating...!
I want the UK government to follow the lead on this issue. Please tell me where in my comments I suggested that I want us to follow all italian laws.
Our (UK) poor deterrent from something as dangerous as drink driving is shocking.
And I don't see what Brexit has to do with it.