Why Bologna is Italy's safest city for pedestrians

Aerial view of Bologna ^{_{Photo: stock.adobe.com/Striker777}}

From of our editorial team

One city opts for more car parks, the other for more lanes. Bologna is taking a different approach - and slowly at that.

Traffic in Italy's cities takes some getting used to, and can sometimes be breakneck - especially for pedestrians. Bologna has opted for a different approach: since 2024, over 70 per cent of all roads there have been 30 km/h. And this is more than just a well-intentioned appeal: "Città 30", as the project is officially called, has changed the city.

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A new record

In the first year of the new regulation, there were no more pedestrian fatalities on the roads in Bologna - the first time this has happened since statistics were first recorded more than 30 years ago. The number of fatalities on vehicles also fell by almost 50 per cent less than the average in previous years. The overall number of road accidents has also fallen significantly:

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Around 370 fewer than the average of the two previous years, which corresponds to a decrease of a good 13 per cent. The number of people injured fell by more than eleven per cent, while particularly serious accidents - i.e. those involving a risk to life, the so-called "codice rosso" - fell by as much as 31 per cent. What is striking here is that the decline was even more marked on the major arterial roads (the "radiali") than in the rest of the city. (What you should know about driving in Italy.)

Click through Bologna

More than speed boards

"30 km/h" has led to a massive change in urban life in Bologna: The city has not only installed speed limit signs, but has also invested more than 27 million euros in structural changes: safe crossings, traffic-calmed squares, new cycle paths, school zones, crossing aids and more. At the same time, over 160 mobile traffic checks were carried out in the first year, with more than 14,000 vehicles being checked. In the process, 2,046 fines were imposed - 306 for speeding offences alone, 89 of which were in the 30 km/h zone. However, the majority of the offences were for not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone at the wheel or red traffic lights - cyclists and e-scooter drivers also received tickets.

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Bologna's air is fragrant

However, the results go far beyond road safety: inner-city car traffic fell by around 11,000 vehicles per working day, a decrease of around five per cent compared to previous years. Bike sharing journeys increased by 69 per cent, car sharing by 44 per cent and even the use of the inner-city rail network rose by over 30 per cent. More than 140,000 additional bike journeys were counted on three regularly monitored cycle routes in the city in 2024 - an increase of ten per cent.

The air is also benefiting: The nitrogen dioxide level at the Porta San Felice traffic monitoring station fell by 29.3 per cent and reached its best level in ten years. NO₂ is considered a reliable marker for urban combustion traffic - less of it simply means breathing better.

On the road in Sardinia

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Fines of up to 845 euros

If you are caught speeding, you can expect a fine of 30 euros or more. Theoretically, fines of up to 845 euros and a one-year driving ban are even possible. Commuters and tradespeople complain about longer journey times, and business organisations would have preferred a graduated model. A referendum against a 30 km/h speed limit was attempted by the right-wing political camp - but failed due to a lack of the required 9,000 signatures. The Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini from the right-wing Lega party, deemed the traffic project to be "pointless" despite the results and issued a directive stipulating that 30 km/h zones may no longer be set up by local authorities over long stretches of road. Bologna wants to stick to his concept.

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