In one of those aberrations of good taste not uncommon in Italy, a local authority has installed a permanent speed trap on the spot where the fatal accident that stopped the Mille Miglia took place on May 12, 1957.
A tall, slim monument stands at the side of the road near Guidizzolo in the province of Mantova, to mark the place where Marquis Alfonso De Portago’s front tire blew at 154 mph and his works 3.8-liter Ferrari 335S skidded, crashed and disintegrated, while flying chunks of it scythed into a group of spectators watching the race from the roadside. De Portago; his navigator; American Ed Nelson, and nine members of the public, including five children, were killed in the horrific accident.
Now, the Cavriana City Council, whose territory borders the crash site, has installed a permanent electronic speed trap a few feet from the monument, which is on the provincial road that leads from Mantova to Brescia, home of the Mille Miglia.
A spokesman for the council said many motorists exceed the 90 km/h (56 mph) speed limit as they pass the monument on the long, straight road, so the trap was installed to make drivers moderate their speed or be fined for not doing so.
But the state under whose jurisdiction Cavriana falls says that the installation of a speed trap at that location is both insensitive and useless and that it will do all in its power to have the offending electronic devices removed.
To be continued.
