Cyclists in Italy will be made to have licence plates, indicators, insurance and wear helmets following a proposed law by its government.

Italy’s deputy PM and minister for transport Matteo Salvini announced the measures on Wednesday (7 June) in a bid to reduce the number of deaths caused by road accidents.

Mr Salvini proposed changes to the Italian Highway Code including action on soft mobility vehicles such as bicycles and electric scooters.

The 50-year-old cited an example of a boy on a scooter killed by another riding a motorbike in Brescia, northern Italy, as one of the reasons for the measures.

He said the 3,210 deaths recorded last year in Italy was an “unworthy” figure of such a civilised country.

The road safety enforcements also include a lifetime ban for car drivers found to be under the influence of drugs, he said.

Mr Salvini, under the right-wing Brothers of Italy party led by Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, said the bill would guarantee “more rules, more education and more safety on Italian roads”.

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Critics pointed out that Mr Salvini had lambasted a senator for the Italian Democratic Party in 2015 on Twitter for the same propositions, calling them “crazy”.

It translates to: “In the meantime, a PD senator has proposed to put number plates and to make bicycle owners pay the road tax, too. Crazy!”

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Online publication Bikeitalia said the obligations would discourage many to travel by bike in the future, without increasing road their road safety.

It challenged the transport minister to “name a country in the world” where his rules of a helmet, licence plate, insurance and indicators were all compulsory at the same time while cycling.

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