Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! Italian cyclist’s refusal to accept fine sees it rise 20-fold University professor fined for riding over pedestrian crossing claims he broke no law – and hopes his Kafkaesque ordeal will help others embroiled in bureaucratic nightmare
A university professor in Italy who refused to pay a fine of €45 when he rode his bike across a pedestrian crossing in 2017 without anyone else around – save for what he maintains was an overzealous local police officer – has seen it escalate almost 20-fold to reach €860.
"I cycled a short stretch of pedestrian crossing, about 2 metres long, and after a moment I heard the whistle of a traffic police officer,” he recounted. He received no reply, and that seemed to be that, until he received a further letter last year informing him that the fine had now risen to €450. "I wonder whether this behaviour is appropriate for a civilization that must provide services to protect the citizen and if the application of such high penalties is just and fair,” he mused.Describing the 20-fold increase in the amount of the fine as “madness,” he said that while he had previously paid fines to the council, he was refusing to do so on this occasion.
Following the publication of his letter earlier this week, the council defended the fine imposed on him, and made public the report of the traffic officer that led to it, describing how the cyclist “was coming from Torre Vanga towards the train station, travelling on his bike on the footway and traffic island of Cavalcavia San Lorenzo, where the pedestrian crossing is located” [while we cannot be certain, it seems likely to be the one in the picture above or at least very close by – Ed].
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