Traffic wardens

Recently I felt like crying. As an ex-warrant officer in the British Army, I can honestly say that I am a great believer in law and order, to such an extent that I have put my life on the line to uphold the rule of law and order, whether it be in Northern Ireland, Cyprus or even Malta in the early '60s.

I have gone through the Malta law courts and seen and felt, in my opinion, the unjustness of Maltese law. I have seen the people who are supposed to uphold the law disregard and flout the law on many occasions. Where are the police who are supposed to lead by example, as opposed to the attitude of 'Do as I tell you, not as I do'?

The above is not the reason that I felt like crying. I felt like crying because I was driving in the area of Birkirkara when I saw two traffic wardens walking towards me.

I was driving along at a normal speed, wearing my seat-belt, completely legal in all respects, unlike the wardens who were walking along the road on the outside of parked cars, the pavement was quite usable, with the aim of slowing traffic so that they could glance in to check if the occupants were wearing their seat-belts etc. These wardens were causing an obstruction to traffic, they were breaking the law, but who enforces these laws? Nobody.

Mobile units of the traffic wardens have a habit of parking their vehicles on roundabouts and double yellow lines. Again this is against the law, causing further obstruction, while they again stand in the road, slowing down traffic so that they can see into vehicles, again causing an obstruction. Any other person not wearing a brown or blue uniform would be given a ticket for jaywalking, which is against the law. But not the traffic wardens. They are in a class of their own and appear to be above the law.

I think it is about time that members of law societies looked into the rules and regulations that govern the working practices of traffic wardens. They should revise and lay down exact working practices and make it known to the public at large.

People also have the right to know when they break the law, be it either by a ticket fixed to the vehicle or by being given a ticket in person at the time of the incident, not by receiving it in the post, out of the blue some time later.

I do have respect for the law and traffic wardens but only when it is seen to be practised correctly. But then again, who really cares? It all comes down to how many tickets they can issue and how much revenue they can get in for the treasury and the percentage for the operators.