An Italian teen motorist, with a grand-prix mentality, zooming at you with a braces-baring grin and no driver's license in his pocket, can be unsettling to a pedestrian.

In a very un Italian style, Italy announced a year ago, that on Thursday July 1, it will require teens (14 and up) to have a special "little" license to drive motor scooters and tiny "little" cars, which effects over 700,000 "little" Italians.

Associated Press
June 29, 2004

ROME - Few sights are more unsettling in Italy than a teen motorist zooming at you with a braces-baring grin and no driver's license in his pocket. But to the relief of pedestrians, the practice of allowing kids as young as 14 to cruise without a permit is ending this week.

The change - which will let teens drive motor scooters and tiny cars only if they have a special license - is part of new road rules that finally tackle the grand-prix mentality many Italians assume when they start their engines.

"Speaking as a citizen and as a father, I believe this thing is positive because it will save many lives," said off-duty police officer Antonio Cerruti. "However, it's worth noting that it depends a lot on the kid - there's the crazy reckless type that doesn't care about the rules and then there's the type that really pays attention."

With no training and no license, kids 14 and older have been allowed to drive small-engine motor scooters and "minicars," two-seat automobiles with mo-ped engines. As of Thursday, they are required to possess a "patentino" - "little license" - after a course and a multiple-choice test.

Most agree stricter rules make sense, but the change is causing havoc.

Although Thursday's deadline was announced a year ago, bad planning means hundreds of thousands of youths will suffer a sudden driving ban - a grim prospect for Italian youths who are raised to love motors and tend to disdain the extended use of their feet.

Teens complain the government promised them free driving courses in public schools, but that few were offered. This forced many to enroll in pricey private programs at the last minute. And some students who completed the course found lengthy delays in booking their test.

"Many of my friends won't get their little license by July 1 because they were misinformed," complained 16-year-old Giulia Firmani. "They thought they could do courses at school but it wasn't like that, and they only enrolled in driving schools at the last second."

Roughly 700,000 kids want little licenses, but by last week only about 220,000 had received them, the Transport Ministry said.

The Codacons consumers group has pressed for an extension, accusing driving schools of profiteering from the crush of students, with prices from $180 to $300 for 12 hours of classroom lessons. And a union of local police workers worried about having to deal with "the umpteenth bureaucratic malfunction."

But Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi is not bending, instead casting blame on procrastinating teenagers. "The kids knew they had a year to get the little license and, as always, they show up on the last day," he told Italian reporters last week.

Italians rein in young minicar drivers - billingsgazette.com
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