Italian internet catches up with speed camera vigilante destroyer “Fleximan”

Italy is being held by a vigilante group calling itself “Fleximan” whose mission is to take down as many speed cameras as possible.

Fleximan has already claimed at least 15 successful attacks, which are currently being investigated by a special police task force and four different prosecutors’ offices.

Anonymous vandals began leaving a trail of destruction in the Northeast several months ago, with more and more cameras being shut down.

Photos of his actions went viral on social media, along with his nickname, taken from the Italian word for angle grinder. Flexible – The tool he mainly used to destroy cameras.

What is not clear is whether Fleximan was one man or two men, or perhaps he became a mass copycat destroyer.

Police in the northwestern Piedmont region say they have charged a 50-year-old suspect, but most of the attacks have occurred in the northeastern Veneto region.

At the scene of a recent attack, an anonymous vigilante left a handwritten message saying: “Fleximan is coming.”

The vandals’ tactics have been consistent, and there has been a growing chorus of support on social media, treating Fleximan as a modern-day Robin Hood.

Padua street artist Evilaine even dedicated his latest work to Fleximan. His doodle depicts Uma Thurman’s character from Kill Bill holding a sword in one hand and a severed speed camera in the other.

of autovelocsAs it is known in Italian, it has always been a controversial topic in Europe. However, Italy is known to have the largest population on the continent, with an estimated number of over 11,000 people.

This is a third more than the UK’s 7,700 and almost three times Germany’s 4,700.

This likely explains some of the anger over speed detectors in Italy, with local mayors saying they have no intention of replacing the vandalized cameras yet. The official reason is to calm the situation.

Fines imposed on drivers have increased dramatically in recent years, with Florence collecting €23.2m ($25m, £20m) in 2022, followed by Milan and Genoa, according to Italian consumer group Codacons. , followed by Rome.

However, Italy’s track record on road safety is less impressive. The European Transport Safety Board predicts that Italy will have 54 deaths per million people in 2022, compared to 26 per million people lost in the UK and 26 per million people lost in Spain. This is almost twice as large as the previous year.

For Paola Di Caro, a political journalist with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, these numbers are deeply personal, and she uses her shocking experience to raise the bar on people’s freedoms. He directly challenged the fleximan’s story of standing up for the cause.

In October 2022, his 18-year-old son Francesco Valdiselli was killed by a speeding driver while waiting for a bus in Rome.

“I just want [Fleximan] Just for one day, just one day, feel what you feel when you go to lay flowers at the place where your son was killed…and… [the cemetery in] In Verano, it was forever closed in the shadows of poured concrete. ”

As she walked to her son’s grave, she told the BBC that the Fleximan mystery reflected a culture that tells people they have a right to feel the rules don’t apply to them.

“People praise him as a hero, but to me Fleximan is just a disgrace. To think that these acts might be done for fun…I can’t stand it. It’s like they’re making fun of my son.”

The topic of speed cameras has entered Italian politics, with Nationalist Alliance leader Matteo Salvini eyeing an opportunity ahead of regional and European elections.

Salvini, who is also transport minister and deputy prime minister, has targeted Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore, who has introduced a new 30 km/h (18 mph) speed limit across the city.

Bologna’s speed cuts were approved by Salvini’s own ministry and were inspired by European Commission figures showing pedestrians are eight times more likely to die at 50km/h than at 30km/h. is.

Bologna’s speed limit reduction sparked protests from motorists, with more than 52,000 participants calling for a referendum on the issue.

“The problem is that the 30km/h limit is too low,” complained Guendalina Furini, a 22-year-old student who started the petition.

“It takes too long to cross the city and it doesn’t solve the real problem of people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” she explained.

She challenged the mayor at a recent meeting, but so far without success.

She admits she’s not an expert in safety statistics, but she wants her voice to be heard.

“We won the right to divorce and abortion by referendum, so why shouldn’t this be decided that way too? This is not the democracy I studied at university.”