Venice is set to install speed cameras on its canals after a spate of deadly accidents.
The cameras will be placed along the length of the city’s waterways and fines will be given to boats that violate the rules after local lawmakers backed a move to enforce the same laws that govern the region’s roads on its canals.
MP Martina Semenzato told Italian media: ‘The roads [of Venice] are the lagoon canals so boat traffic must be controlled more effectively.’
The city’s canals are often crowded with ferries, motorboats, gondolas and other vessels, especially during the summer peak season.
Boats are allowed to travel at up to seven kilometres per hour in the main canals and five kilometres per hour in smaller ones. However, the speed limits are often ignored and there has been and a series of deadly incidents in recent years, raising concerns over the safety of locals and tourists.
The cameras will be placed along the length of the city’s waterways and fines will be given to boats that violate the rules after local lawmakers backed a move to enforce the same laws that govern the region’s roads on its canals (stock image)
In 2019, three men died in a high-speed crash in the city’s lagoon and the same year large cruise ships were banned from the Giudecca canal after five tourists sustained injuries in a crash.
In 2013, a German tourist was crushed to death when the gondola he was in was involved in a collision with a water bus on the Grand Canal.
In 2022, a Belgian tourist stole a water taxi and took it for a high-speed ride on the Grand Canal before he was stopped and fined by the police.
Regulatory gaps in the application of fines for vessels found to have contravened local rules have led to a backlog of administrative disputes and an increasing number of unpaid fees.
Semenzato said that the changes, which are still awaiting final parliamentary approval before they come into force, would make Venice safer and see new technology utilised to catch those flouting speed rules.
‘The amendment introduces a specific speed camera, named Barcavelox, to monitor and record the speed of boats and craft plying the canals of the lagoon city,’ she said.
The speed limits will also help to protect Venice’s lagoon ecosystem and architecture, which are at risk of being further damaged by the ‘wave motion’ from boats that pass its waters.
Experts have warned that it affects canal walls below the waterline and damages historic buildings.
The announcement came as Venice was preparing for its annual Carnevale, which starts this week and draws millions of tourists each year.
The city’s canals are often crowded with ferries, motorboats, gondolas, and other vessels, especially during the summer peak season (stock image)
In December, the city announced plans to further crack down on mass tourism, announcing new limits on the size of tourist groups.
Starting in June, groups will be limited to 25 people, or roughly half the capacity of a tourist bus, and the use of loudspeakers, ‘which can generate confusion and disturbances’, will be banned, the city said in a statement.
The city official charged with security, Elisabetta Pesce, said the policies were aimed at improving the movement of groups through Venice’s historic centre, as well as the heavily visited islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello.
The city previously announced plans to test a new day-tripper fee last year.
The five euro (£4.34) per person fee will be applied on 29 peak days between April and mid-July, including most weekends.
It is intended to regulate crowds, encourage longer visits and improve the quality of life for Venice residents.
The UN cultural agency cited tourism’s impact on the fragile lagoon city as a major factor in it twice considering placing Venice on UNESCO’s list of heritage sites in danger.
The city escaped the first time by limiting the arrival of large cruise ships through the Giudecca Canal and again in September when it announced the roll-out of the day-tripper charge, which had been delayed when tourism declined during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But with tourism levels back to pre-pandemic levels, chaos in the Floating City appears to be at an all-time high.
Perhaps one of the most dangerous instances of tourists disrespecting Italy’s treasured sites saw two ns whizzing along Venice’s Grand Canal on £20,000 electric hydrofoils.
The two men were filmed making waves through the main thoroughfare in August 2022, infuriating both tourists and locals alike.
One of the hooligans on the hydrofoils – a kind of foil board often fitted with electric-powered propellers – was seen on his phone as he chopped through the canal waters.
Even Venice’s mayor took aim at the pair of ns, calling for them to be punished and offering a free dinner to anyone who could help identify them.