{"id":1745,"date":"2026-01-29T12:18:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/?p=1745"},"modified":"2026-01-29T12:18:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:18:35","slug":"the-use-of-private-means-of-transport-in-the-framework-of-in-itinere-accidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/2026\/01\/29\/the-use-of-private-means-of-transport-in-the-framework-of-in-itinere-accidents\/","title":{"rendered":"The use of private means of transport in the framework of \u201cin itinere\u201d accidents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Nation case-law plays a significant role in defining the correct set of norms to apply to cases of \u201c<\/em>in itinere\u201d<em> accidents, with specific regards to the controversial issue of the use that workers make of their private vehicle to reach the workplace. In this article, we examined some specific scenarios that may occur during the daily work life of all of us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As is well known, an accident that occurs while an employee is traveling from their home to their workplace, and vice versa, is defined as \u201c<em>in itinere<\/em>.\u201d The peculiarity of this institution lies in the fact that these accidents are treated in the same way as those that occur in the workplace (i.e., on company premises) and, therefore, the same rules and national insurance coverage apply to both. However, it is not always easy to categorize with certainty which accident is actually <em>in itinere<\/em> and whether, for example, there have been exceptions or particular circumstances that would hinder the application of the same treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For instance, the use of private transportation is a central issue in this area of law, of which we will discuss within this article. The relevant provision, set by section 12 of Legislative Decree No. 38\/2000, codified the principles that were defined by Italian Courts over the years, establishing that the Italian Agency for Professional Deseas and Accidents (<em>INAIL<\/em>) insurance coverage extends to accidents occurred while using private vehicles provided that it was \u201cnecessary\u201d to do so. It is precisely around this requirement that an intense jurisprudential debate has developed, which has ultimately outlined its exact scope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The key principle consistently affirmed by national case law is that public transport represents the \u201cnormal\u201d means of transport for people, as it involves the minimum degree of exposure to the risks associated with traveling on the road. Consequently, the choice to use a private vehicle, which inherently increases this exposure, is only worthy of protection if it is necessary and, therefore, there are no viable and less risky alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this sense, the \u201cnecessity\u201d of using private transport is not to be intended in absolute terms, but rather in a \u201crelative\u201d way, which shall be assessed on a case-by-case basis according to reasonable evaluations, with the burden of proving such necessity falling entirely on the employees claiming insurance protection. In such cases, according to some of the case law that has addressed this issue, it is not sufficient to cite reasons related to mere convenience or the desire to reduce travel time: the \u201clesser inconvenience\u201d offered by private vehicles does not, in itself, satisfy the condition of necessity required by law and case law interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Concretely, the case law has recognized the existence of the \"necessary\" use in specific cases, like when there is a complete lack of public transport connecting the employees\u2019 homes to their workplace, or when the timetables of public services are incompatible with working hours, making it impossible or excessively burdensome to reach the workplace or return home. Also, using private transport is considered to be justified when the public transport stop is too far from work or home to walk reasonably. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over time, higher Italian Courts have acknowledged that \u201cnecessity\u201d may also arise from needs worthy of protection, such as ensuring a closer relationship with the family community. Even in these cases, however, the assessment must be based on a criterion of reasonableness, without the employee's choice resulting in an abnormal or unjustified risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, it should be noted that, regardless of the specific case, even when the use of a private vehicle is recognized as necessary, the reference law expressly excludes insurance coverage by INAIL if the accident is directly caused by seriously culpable conduct on the part of the worker, such as the abuse of alcohol and\/or psychotropic drugs, the non-therapeutic use of narcotics, or driving without the required license. Such conduct is considered to introduce such an anomalous risk factor as to break the link with the work occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nation case-law plays a significant role in defining the correct set of norms to apply to cases of \u201cin itinere\u201d accidents, with specific regards to the controversial issue of the use that workers make of their private vehicle to reach the workplace. In this article, we examined some specific scenarios that may occur during the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[170,169],"class_list":["post-1745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employment-relationship","tag-accident-at-work","tag-employment-relationship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1746,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions\/1746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.osservatorio-labour.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}