Emerging from a tunnel on the Regional Road and being mindful of the signs that remind you to turn off your headlights, I switched off mine... and then saw a traffic warden feeding information into his machine.

Two days later (only bad news moves so quickly, in Malta) I received a "notice of contravention" and a fine of Lm10.The notice was issued at 11.14 a.m. Was I actually still literally inside the tunnel? I have no way of telling. But when I turned off my lights I was in broad daylight. So what do we deduce from this - that it is now illegal to turn off your lights until reaching the sign that tells you to do it?

The vehicle in front of me was a police car. It did not have any lights at all and changed lane halfway through the tunnel. In front of that was a car belching clouds of black exhaust that continued unchecked by either authority.

Is it not time that people like the warden who booked me were given a proper job?

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