ROME — In an unprecedented response to record fuel costs, the Italian government has abolished vehicle tax on small cars and scooters for one year and simultaneously ordered every owner to drive their vehicle without interruption for the same period, with a mandatory minimum of 18 hours per day logged at official roadside checkpoints.
The decree, effective immediately, requires citizens to form rolling convoys through city centers and along autostrade, with engines idling during fuel stops that are now limited to four minutes. Municipalities have begun converting piazzas into pit stops, and the national highway authority has painted lane markers in the shape of fuel nozzles to guide the endless procession.
«We calculated that if everyone drives constantly, the average fuel price per liter becomes irrelevant because no one will have time to notice it,» said Deputy Minister for Mobility Marco Fumagalli. «The tax break is merely a logistical formality. The real saving is existential.»
Local police have been issued stopwatches and breathalyzer-sized devices that measure driver alertness by counting how many times a motorist blinks per kilometer. Those who fall below the threshold are assigned a co-driver from a newly created Corps of Compulsory Co-Pilots, drawn from retired traffic wardens and former rally navigators.
By next week, the government expects the entire peninsula to be in motion, with school lessons broadcast over car radios and grocery deliveries performed by scooter couriers weaving between the convoys. The environment ministry has requested that drivers keep windows down to reduce air conditioning use, a measure officials describe as «a patriotic breeze».