What Fleximan tells us about the future of driving
Fleximan, the disc grinder-wielding vigilante who cuts down speed cameras on the roads of northeastern Italy, is now the focus of a special police operation; but even if he isn’t brought to justice, changes to car manufacturing will soon render the targets of his ire unnecessary.
There are more than 11,000 speed cameras installed on Italian roads; the United Kingdom has under 8,000, while Germany has fewer than 5,000; Spain has a mere 1,000 or so. The spread of speed cameras over recent years has been interpreted by critics not as a way to improve road safety but to increase revenue, which is why Fleximan has become a national hero to some, depicted by graffiti artists as Uma Thurman in Kill Bill with a katana in one hand and a speed camera (autovelox, in Italian) in the other.
Sadly, the simple truth is that Fleximan is a vandal, a criminal whose actions not only make Italian roads more dangerous than they already are, but who costs tax payers a fortune. Nevertheless, many drivers who have been fined for speeding will doubtless smile when they pass a speed control camera felled by the roadside.
The reality here is that we are heading to a future where manufacturers will soon be obliged by law to limit the speed of the cars they make, warning us when they exceed the limit, perhaps even reporting drivers to…
