Ken Roberts said:Warning for our fellow "incorrect" bicycle tourists: Italy (and
perhaps other Euro countries) seems to have a law that if bicycles
are being carried on a rack on the rear of a car, then there must be
a big square marker-sign with diagonal red+white stripes over the
bike (at least on the autostrada). We had brought our own car rack
with us on the airplane, but did not have a marker-sign (because we
didn't know about it), and then one rainy night we were confronted
by the polizia at an autostrada rest stop and forced to pay a fine
in cash, and required to immediately purchase a marker-sign (which
just happened to be available for sale at that rest stop). So now we
have one for future trips. The tricky step is to remember to bring
heavy string to use to tie the marker-sign to our bicycle.
The same law applies in California and many other states. It says if
there are obstacles behind the rear bumper of the car, a red flag must
be attached to the extremity. In Europe they formalized the vague
"red flag" into a standard warning device. The difference is that our
police doesn't pick nits on this subject. Some do however.
Jobst Brandt