Suddenly this summer the Nationalist Party appears to have woken up to what by all accounts must be one of the most irritating aspects of life in Malta - coming face to face with traffic wardens! Newspapers must have carried hundreds of letters since the introduction of the warden service pinpointing the absurdity of some of their actions on the road, but up to now very little has been done to curb their powers or, rather, their antics.
What was meant to be a service to the community, one to help ease the frustration of so many people faced with the arrogance of others, has turned into one of the biggest sources of frustration. An endless number of stories can be told of how wardens have managed to ridicule what should have been a potent tool to help bring about sanity on these islands' traffic-choked streets. Today, thanks to a number of wardens whose mission in life is simply to trap motorists, sometimes in a most childish manner, the warden service has become a joke, a sad joke.
Now, clearly, if there are three countries in the whole wide world where discipline ought to be rigidly enforced, Malta definitely ought to be one of them. In this light, the newspaper's argument might therefore appear somewhat contradictory. But it is not, for the wardens are not simply rigidly enforcing rules and regulations, they are often overstepping their mark, sometimes even inventing their own rules and regulations. Which is why they have lost the people's respect, why the service is generally regarded as a bad joke.
Make no mistake about it, a traffic warden service is still badly needed, in some places more than in others. The Maltese driver is still generally undisciplined and the roads are not in any way safer than they had been before the introduction of the warden service. To make matters worse, in many places the traffic flow has been made even more difficult than in the time before the roads began to be tarmacked as authorities (who are they?!) choose to reduce wide roads into one-lane thoroughfares. Traffic policemen are no longer man-made, they're imported - by the dozen, it seems. Two or three of the narrowest streets in Lija (of all places!) give an idea of the extent councils can go about happily increasing, not decreasing, the drivers' frustration.
The party in government appears to have finally put its ears to the ground and has told, or is about to tell, local councils to take stock of the warden service to ensure they are not abusing the power granted to them.
Where have the party bosses been all this time? Have they never got a ticket for the slightest (real or imagined) infringement? Or are the people's feelings to be taken notice of only when the time is right? PN general secretary Joe Saliba has gone on record saying it was time to carry out an analysis of the warden service and traffic management in each locality in an attempt to stem the justified complaints. He can say that again!
When asked if he suspected that some wardens were abusing their power, he said: "I don't suspect, I am convinced some wardens are abusing their powers. As much as their role is important, wardens are meant to be there to assist citizens". Assisting citizens? Some act more as poachers in a park ready to pounce on an unsuspecting victim than as wardens. Will Mr Saliba's words of caution go unnoticed? Time will tell, but drivers are not amused.