The ban on locking bicycles in Cagliari has ended up at the European Court of Human Rights.
Following the Council of State's ruling rejecting its appeal against the municipal regulation, FIAB (Italian Federation of the Environment and Bicycles) in Cagliari decided to appeal to the Strasbourg courts. It did so "following a careful analysis of the arguments submitted" and to "protect the fundamental rights deemed infringed."
The Cagliari City Council, within the framework of the Police and Urban Security regulation approved under Mayor Paolo Truzzu, has established, to safeguard the livability and decorum of the city, a ban on chaining bicycles "to public infrastructures not intended for this purpose", under penalty of applying fines of 100 to 300 euros .
The association appealed first to the Regional Administrative Court (TAR), then to the Council of State. It lost. According to the judges, the ban aims to "protect, from the perspective of urban decorum, those public infrastructures that (...) primarily occupy sidewalks and other urban features of squares, parks, stairways, tunnels, porticoes, and monument enclosures," and where "vehicle parking is already generally prohibited."
A provision which therefore "does not violate the Highway Code" according to the judges, nor does the unequal treatment complained of by the association exist between "weak users" who travel by bike and "strong users" who travel by car or motorbike.
In appealing , Fiab Cagliari reiterates its willingness to engage in dialogue with the municipal administration "to identify balanced solutions that protect urban decorum without compromising fundamental rights" .
"We hope," explains FIAB Cagliari President Virgilio Scanu, "that there will be maximum attention and sensitivity to this issue. Bicycles, unlike other means of transport, cannot be parked without systems that discourage theft . This is the first time this issue has been brought to the attention of the European Court. But we believe it is an important and strategic issue for encouraging urban mobility by bicycle with all the benefits that come with it."
(Unioneonline)