Tutor on Italian Motorways

[Filibuster]

Thinking back about road trips to Italy in the past, I wanted to understand how exactly the Tutor system in Italy works.
I understand that they are meant to be an average speed control.

Browsing the net I have found many suggestions, ranking from that they are inactive most of time, only monitoring HGVs, only "flashing" silly speeds, etc.
But most infos date back a few years.
There are many sections, where you have like 5 or 6 Tutor cameras every 5km or so for 25km of road. Are they all active and measuring the average speed for 25km, or simply one alternating section inbetween?

I have been passed by Italian cars doing probably near 200km/h in such supposedly monitored Tutor sections. So surely they can't be working all the time (or the cars where all stolen...).

Who knows the definitive answer to how exactly this system operates in 2020?

[donkmeister]

Filibuster said:

I have been passed by Italian cars doing probably near 200km/h in such supposedly monitored Tutor sections. So surely they can't be working all the time (or the cars where all stolen...).

Who knows the definitive answer to how exactly this system operates in 2020?

I'm going to be annoying by saying "I don't know but..." . This same thing has perplexed me, and I put it down to two things:
1) corruption. What we regard as corruption is really everyday bureaucracy in Italy. Perhaps it's a copper or a relative of a copper and the ticket will be disappeared.
2) local knowledge. I do a lot of time on the M25, and I've never felt motivated to learn what cameras are where and instead make sure I keep to the limits. But you see the people who fly past one gantry at 100mph then brake hard for the HADECS3, then accelerated, then brake etc. Perhaps these drivers know that they're ok so long as they are getting off at junction X?

[Lopey]

You see it in the UK too. Quite often you see cars whizzing past at 70+ in 50mph average speed sections.

[chopper602]

donkmeister said:

But you see the people who fly past one gantry at 100mph then brake hard for the HADECS3, then accelerated, then brake etc. Perhaps these drivers know that they're ok so long as they are getting off at junction X?

HADECS3 don't normally record average speeds, so that sort of behavior won't result in a ticket

[donkmeister]

chopper602 said:

donkmeister said:

But you see the people who fly past one gantry at 100mph then brake hard for the HADECS3, then accelerated, then brake etc. Perhaps these drivers know that they're ok so long as they are getting off at junction X?

HADECS3 don't normally record average speeds, so that sort of behavior won't result in a ticket

Obviously, that's why they brake for them.

[irocfan]

donkmeister said:

Obviously, that's why they brake for them.

not so obvious - amount of people I've seen braking for average speed cameras is staggering

[zzrman]

Filibuster said:

Thinking back about road trips to Italy in the past, I wanted to understand how exactly the Tutor system in Italy works.

Sorry to be picky but isn't it Tudor?

A for how it works I don't know but I've driven the section from Milan to Brescia a few times and there are plenty of cars flying down the outside lane doing well over the limit without it would appear a care in the world.

[Dogwatch]

I thought this was going to be something to do with Italian driving instructors. Now that's an occupation (if it exists!) that would give me white hair in days.

[RiccardoG]

Back OT, its an interesting question and I wish there was more info on them. I know that last year most got switched off for some legal reason but they are now back on.

One "street" theory is that they only flag cars that travel over the limit when passing by them. That's why many people slow down to 130kmh when in range and then speed up again later. But, I've rarely seen Italian registered cars going very quick now.

Do keep in mind that in Italy you can always pay more for a fine an not declare the driver (crazy!). I think some of the speeders are just Ok with spending Eur500 on the fine, probably put it trough the company anyway.

[tgr]

Interesting topic - I got speed gunned in Treviso on a statale. Only literally 5 km/h higher than the limit, but no dice. I didn't see anything apart from the 'controllo di velocita' signs that you see everywhere

[pixelatedJH]

I’ve wondered the same. With cruise at 130 I am always passed by everyone.

Better still, autostrada tunnel with roadworks that have Tutor cameras. 30KmH limit. Which I stuck to not knowing if the cameras were functional or not. Wow I got hate for that.

Not sure what the secret is.

[matrignano]

Anecdotally, NIPs when driving rental cars near the Garda area or Tuscany seem to be common occurrence.

Motorways seem less predictable when on foreign plates. A very reprehensible YouTube video I saw, a driver was doing 170-180 quite sustained on a motorway in the north with foreign plates and nothing came of it

[RiccardoG]

Got speed gunned in Veneto too when on a statale ("della Valsugana")! The NIP arrived at my UK home address nearly a year after the occurrence. First one I ever received in 20+ years of driving foreign registered cars in Italy.

[Filibuster]

It seems nobody here knows something for fact atm. It is a strange situation, isn't it?

A practice that has been done by the Italian "police" for quite some time here in Switzerland is the following:

We do not have an agreement with Italy, so they can't send you a fine. In theory.
The Swiss Police have to give the details of the driver/car to the Italians, when the fine is above a threshold of CHF 150 / € 125.

So the Italian police increases a €40 with an € 85 administration fee to get the drivers details.
But they can send the letter to Switzerland, since this is illegal and felony felony no less! (prohibited intelligence, ffs!!)

What they do is sell the ticket on to a private debt collector who then send you a letter with the official police logo, but in the small print you see that it is from a private firm, payable not the the Italian state, but to them!

Open tickets can be enforced in Italy or the border crossings in theory, but I'm not sure whether one that has been given to a private debt collector is still considered to be open, or if they really sold them by the penny for a pound....

[Sam.F]

I read an article a while ago about the TUTOR system the gist of which was that there is a margin of tolerance plus a rule that they take off a certain percentage which means that one can get away with doing about 150km/h without getting a ticket. Of course that might have changed as that was a few years ago but certainly my experience on the autostrada was that most of the traffic seemed to be over 130 but under 150.
I thought that seemed ok to be honest - yes it's frustrating that you can't get away with covering ground at 120mph any more but at least you aren't expected to crawl along at 70mph.