Fines with rented speed cameras are legitimate, the sentence of the Court of Cassation
The high fines from the local police with rented speed cameras from private companies that collect a percentage of the proceeds of high sations to motorists are legitimate: a sentence of the Court of Cassation – second civil section – published this morning rejected the appeal of a woman fined in Sardinia, in particular in Arborea (Oristano), for speeding in June 2008.
There violation had been detected by a device (Traffiphot IIISR-PhotR & V) approved in 2004 by the Ministry of Transport. In 2013 the justice of the peace of Terralba had proved her right and the report of the municipal police had been canceled. The municipality of Arborea, represented by the lawyer Giovanna Maria Urru (Bar of Oristano) had, therefore, turned to the court of Oristano which had declared regular the ascertainment of the violation with speed cameras, managed by a company affiliated with the administration but in the availability of the municipal police.
Before the Supreme Court, the motorist, represented by the lawyer Rossella Oppo of the Oristano bar, had contested, among other things, the legitimacy of the assessment with equipment entrusted to a company which received a percentage (in this case 29.10%) on each detected infringement and not under the direct control of the municipal police.
There the presence of the plant was reported on the Arborea-Oristano road, but the applicant had questioned the suitability and adequacy of the signage. “The remuneration of the service in relation to the proceeds of administrative sanctions”, the sentence reads “is not relevant, since the violations must be ascertained by the municipal police, nor is there any profile of invalidity of the report connected to the restriction of destination of the income, for at least half, for particular public purposes “.
Furthermore, as specified by the sentence of the court of Oristano“the equipment installation contract provided that the data collected[…] flowed into a server in order to be validated by the local police staff, who could, therefore, access said data, in the direct and full availability of the investigating bodies which were entrusted with the examination, verification and processing of the data entered in the database for the purpose of contesting administrative sanctions “.
Basically, “the sole total delegation of the functions of ascertaining infringements to a private company” would have been illegitimate, but in this case the verification was carried out by public officials. In rejecting the appeal, the Supreme Court sentenced the applicant to pay the expenses incurred by the municipality of Arborea, amounting to one thousand euros, of which 200 for disbursements, in addition to the flat-rate fee equal to 15% and the legal accessories.
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