What happens if you make a certain maneuver on the highway? The Highway Code is very strict, so be careful.
L’highway it is that place that we look at from time to time with dreamy eyes. Let’s talk about the rest of the large road infrastructure of our country that allows us to travel to the place of vacation or to reunite with loved ones during the holidays, as many are doing these days.
There Italian motorway network it boasts an extension close to 7,000 kilometres, according to the latest update of 31 December 2019, of which 6,000 under concession, 939 managed directly by ANAS and 40 international tunnels.
The first time the term highway was mentioned was 1922, when the engineer Piero Puricelli presented the project for theLakes highway to describe long-distance, unobstructed, high-speed arterial roads intended for the transport of goods and people.
The first section was inaugurated in 1924, in what today represents the current A8 and A9 from Milan to Varese. However, only with the passing of the years did real regulation come about, which today also includes a very common infringement that occurs in certain points of the motorway network. Let’s find out together.
This infraction at the tollbooth can cost you dearly: what is it about
To regulate the specific case of this article is the rule number 176 of the Highway Code which indicates all the behaviors that are prohibited without appeal in the access areas to the motorway.
A discourse that naturally also applies to motorway toll booths, which can represent an access point or an exit point from the network. In fact, the law tells us that in these areas it is absolutely forbidden to maneuver to go backeven in reverse and also in areas where there are ramps and junctions that lead to main extra-urban roads.
If you are entering the toll booth and you realize you have made a mistake, unfortunately there is no escape and you can’t go back: you cannot reverse nor attempt to reverse. This is because, in addition to being an illegal manoeuvre, it is also extremely dangerous and would put you and anyone arriving at that moment at risk.
Here then is that the Highway Code severely punishes this kind of lightness: the fine foreseen in case you go back in reverse gear starts from 430 euros, but can go up to 1731 depending on the seriousness of the infringement. As a bonus, you would lose 10 points on your driving licence.
It is even more serious if you reverse and therefore proceed in the opposite direction to that of travel: the penalty on the points on the license remains the same, with a reduction of 10, but the monetary outlay increases considerably. The fine can starting from 2046 euros and reaching, brace yourself, almost 8200 euros. In short, it is better to stretch a little rather than try to go back.
