'Safe roads' scheme to protect cyclists

(ANSA) - Rome, July 23 - Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli on Monday announced a "safe roads" scheme to protect cyclists at increasing risk of accident and injury.
    "Since accidents on urban streets impact the total enormously, we're speaking of more than 130,000 case out of a total of a little less than 175,000, the government and this ministry have drafted a series of measures which will strongly reduce accidents and injury," he said. Toninelli, who is also infrastructure minister, said that "scant road safety costs us 20 billion euros.
    "It is a social plague," he said.
    Toninelli also reiterated that a merger between motorway company ANAS and rail company FS was "certainly wrong".