The Court of Alessandria, with a ruling from September 2022, clarified that the digital tachograph is not a tool that can be a source of evidence for the purpose of sanctioning the exceeding speed limits under art. 142 paragraph VI of the Highway Code, overturning a ruling by the Justice of the Peace of Tortona.
THE CASE: READING DIGITAL TACHOGRAPH DATA
Following a roadside check, a driver was issued a ticket for speeding, the excess was detected based on the results extracted from the reading of digital tachograph data installed on the stopped vehicle. The Justice of the Peace of Tortona initially confirmed the ticket and considered the tachograph perfectly suitable to provide evidence in this regard.
THE RULING
The Court of Alessandria, in the appeal, clarified that this is not admissible. Despite the provisions of art. 142 of the Highway Code, due to the conflict of the latter with European regulations, the data on speed recorded by tachographs cannot be a source of evidence. The Court also recalled that Italy has been subjected to infringement proceedings in this regard and has been in default since 2020.
The Court first recalled the general principle that Italian national legislation is valid and applicable as long as it does not conflict with the overriding European legislation. In this specific case, the provision of the art. 142 paragraph VI CdS, given this specific situation, is to be disapplied. In other words, European legislation, not including the speed reading among those usable for sanctioning purposes does not allow the Italian legislator to use it as a source of evidence. It is therefore not possible to impose a fine using the readings recorded in the mass memory of the tachographs.
On these grounds, the fine was therefore annulled.