Luckily there is always a judge in Berlin. Which in this case proved the “poor fined motorist” was right and the Municipality, the “speed camera hellhound”, considered not approved, was wrong. What infernal contraption? The most feared, insulted and unfortunately vilified one in the city, that is the totem of the Autovelox 106 device which they placed overnight, a long time ago, along the straight road of the State Road 114 of Santa Margherita, a charming town now referred to by all the people of Messina as “the cursed road of the speed cameras”. Where especially in summer, between a life jacket and an umbrella, a honking horn and a now hot orange juice, under the scorching sun, thousands and thousands of motorists pass by.
In the first months, and until not long ago, when the tom tom among the people on the street had not yet spread, many, very many, collected dozens and dozens of fines, practically one for each passage. Accumulating stratospheric sums to pay, some even had to pawn jewelery to pay. Then the constant slowdown at least with the local automotive population, was the practice. And now you can see, for example, in that long stretch, cars, motorbikes and trucks traveling at the spasmodic speed of… 20 km per hour. And no one protests.
But now there is a ruling that has opened up a whole new world. It was issued by Justice of the Peace Elena Ramatelli, who decided the lawsuit brought to the Municipality by a Calabrian motorist, who therefore being a “foreigner” was probably completely unaware of the facts. The judge ruled in favor of her lawyer, the lawyer Giuseppe Musolino, and in the wrong of the Municipality’s lawyer, the lawyer Emanuele Ferrara.
Let’s get to the facts. With the appeal, the “driver” “proposed opposition” to the report issued by the Municipal Police of Messina because on 13 October 2024 at 3.51 pm on that stretch of road indicated, where the maximum limit of 50 km per hour is in force, she was going at a speed of 69 km per hour, which with the now usual “discount” of 5% was reduced to 64 km per hour.
The key argument proposed by the lawyer Musolino was fundamental: «… in requesting the annulment of the contested report – writes the justice of the peace in the sentence -, he objected, among other things, to its illegitimacy due to defects in the approval of the speed camera device, model 106, thanks to which the contested infringement had been ascertained».
And the justice of the peace agreed with him, because we are faced with the “lack of proof of approval”. In more detail «… the Municipality of Messina – writes Judge Ramatelli -, which in the judgment in question takes on the role of plaintiff, on which the burden of demonstrating the validity of the claim falls, did not provide proof of the approval of the Autovelox 106 equipment with which the infringement was detected. In fact, the only documentation produced by the Administration consists of the declaration of conformity to the approved sample of Sodi Scientifica n. 229/R 2024 from which, however, it appears that the equipment was subjected to verification of conformity to the approved sample, without the approval certificate having been produced. This is sufficient – concludes the judge – for the acceptance of the opposition, with a decision absorbing the further grounds of appeal, and for the annulment of the contested report”. Amen. And now what will happen with all the other fines? We will only see it by driving.
