At midnight on 12 July, Italian authorities began switching off 1,204 fixed speed cameras across the national road network, after a long-awaited ministerial decree on device homologation entered into force. The transport ministry in Rome estimates that 2,856 other devices meet the new standards and may continue operating. The decree, signed by Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, establishes for the first time binding technical parameters — including a maximum measurement error of 3 km/h up to 100 km/h — and mandates annual calibration checks. Devices that had received only administrative approval before 2017, rather than full homologation, are now deemed non-compliant and must be deactivated until they pass the new certification process.

Italian municipal police officials and road-safety campaigners have voiced unease. Luigi Altamura, Verona’s local police commander and a representative of the national association of municipalities, warned that the shutdown coincides with the start of the summer holiday exodus and risks sending a message that speeding will go unpunished. Legal scholars in Florence and Rome note that the decree may not resolve the underlying jurisprudential tension: the Court of Cassation has repeatedly ruled that approval and homologation are distinct legal acts, and a ministerial decree cannot override primary legislation. Several jurists predict that fines issued by the remaining devices will continue to be challenged, and that judges may still annul them by applying the supreme court’s precedent.

A parallel overhaul is under way in Brazil, where a special committee of the Chamber of Deputies is preparing to vote on a comprehensive reform of the national traffic code after the parliamentary recess. The draft text, which incorporates 63 of 270 proposed amendments, would prohibit hidden speed cameras and require advance signage before enforcement points — a measure that the coordinator of the SOS Estradas watchdog, Rodolfo Rizzotto, argues eliminates the element of surprise and effectively invites drivers to speed outside marked zones. The bill also lowers the minimum age for urban driving to 16 under supervision, reduces the age for bus and truck licences from 21 to 20, and creates a national digital record of psychological fitness for licence applicants. Traffic specialist David Duarte told Brazilian media that poorly defined urban perimeters and the country’s high motorcycle fatality rate make the teenage driving provision particularly difficult to enforce safely.

In the United States, the regulatory focus is shifting from human drivers to autonomous systems. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed eliminating the requirement for fully self-driving vehicles to retain manual brake pedals, a move that would facilitate the deployment of purpose-built robotaxis such as Tesla’s Cybercab and Zoox’s driverless pod. The proposal maintains existing braking performance standards but removes the obligation for human-operable controls. Separately, lawmakers in New Jersey are advancing a bill that would compel autonomous vehicle operators to use at least two sensor technologies in addition to cameras — a direct challenge to Tesla’s camera-only approach. Industry figures in Silicon Valley argue that the bill would impose a hardware mandate rather than a performance standard, while safety advocates in the northeastern US contend that redundant sensors reduce failure risk in adverse conditions. The NHTSA proposal is open for public comment; the New Jersey bill has yet to reach a floor vote. In Brazil, the traffic code reform is expected to be voted on in the special committee before proceeding to the full lower house.