Italian police go full throttle
From Alessio Vinci
CNN Rome Bureau Chief
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Italian drivers are known to use public roads as their personal speedways and racing tracks. But now they are about to lose their final race.
Italy's state police have a sleek new addition -- a Lamborghini Gallardo with a top speed of 309 km/h (192 mph).
The car, which has a list price of $165,000 (145,180), comes fully equipped -- flashing blue light and siren included.
The Lamborghini will be used on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway in southern Italy for emergencies and to transport organs for transplant.
Lamborghini, which is owned by Volkswagen and based near Bologna in northern Italy, donated the car.
The six-speed vehicle has the ability to go from zero to 100 km/h (60 mph) in four seconds.
With a car like this you hardly go unnoticed, and Giuseppe di Costa, one of eight newly trained Lamborghini patrol drivers, is clearly having some fun.
During a ride in the car we had a motorcyclist giving the thumbs up and yelling. "Ah ah, he wants to make a race with me," di Costa says.
At a traffic light, a group of teenagers -- usually weary of the police -- solicit some attention, demanding to be arrested.
"They say, 'Please arrest me for 10 minutes, I want to go on a ride with you in your car,'" di Costa says.
But this Lamborghini is not just a toy -- it is equipped with a $40,000 (33,000) camera and computer system that records traffic violations and sends them back to headquarters in real time.
The car also has been fitted with a specially designed cooler compartment to transport organs for transplants.
And unlike most other police cars it has a state-of-the-art defibrillator -- although just the sound of its engine should be enough to make your heart jump.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
