Editorial

Traffic jams have become the order of the day today. In quite a number of cases, these can easily be avoided but in the Malta situation, people often tend to make problems worse by acting contrary to what common sense dictates.

For instance, it is as obvious as day follows night that the watering of plants in busy streets at peak traffic time invariably creates massive traffic jams. The same can be said when gangs of workers close lanes to traffic to enable them to repaint roadsigns, or when roads are dug up, again at peak traffic hours.

Common sense would dictate that such work can easily be done at night when the flow of traffic is at its lowest, except, of course, in such places as Sliema, St Julians and St Andrews. But no, it is still common practice for workers to be assigned to do such work at peak traffic time.

It is with much relief, therefore, to learn that, at least, one authority does not intend to take things lying down. With the number of cars on the roads already very high, even a bumper-to-bumper collision is bound to bring traffic to a standstill, let alone the digging up of a road in a bypass. When, the other day, the Malta Transport Authority stopped a contractor from continuing with works in December 13 Road, quite a number of drivers had already wasted considerable time in the traffic jam that had built up by then.

But at least the authority exercised its power and acted in time before more frustrated drivers lost more time - and temper - behind the wheel. Well done. The authority said the standard conditions for a permit for such works laid down that the job had to be carried out during off-peak daytime hours and, in more critical locations, the authority may require that such works be carried out during the night, between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Will the contractor found carrying out works without authorisation in December 13 Road now be fined?

There are far too many obstacles today that would need to be looked into if we are to bring about some sort of order on our roads. As the situation stands, the traffic flow in far too many places is simply chaotic. Traffic lights have improved the flow in some places but in others, they have made the situation worse.

The traffic flow seems to be able to move faster without the traffic lights at the top of Kappara. We have now gone from one extreme to another. First, it took us ages to realise the importance of having traffic lights, then when we "discovered" them, we started putting them up liberally everywhere.

As the number of new cars continues to rise, it is important to give much greater attention to traffic management than we are doing now. The traffic policemen stationed at Msida, for example, do a very good job in managing the traffic situation there, but there is need for more such direct traffic help at key junctions, such as, for example, the war memorial in Floriana.

Of course, there is one very serious shortcoming that would need to be rectified if the country wants to ensure a smoother flow of traffic, indiscipline. Rampant indiscipline marks us out as being among the worst drivers in Europe. We can work towards bringing about order to our roads through the imposition of fines for contraventions and, more importantly, education. That is where local wardens and the traffic police come in...