Badly behaved drivers of buses, white taxis, coaches, lorries, SUVs and other vehicles often hit this page, and I don't mean recently, but ever since I started writing this column way back in 1993.
But the appalling thing is that despite new buses, a 'revamped' ADT (Transport Authority), and various government ministers, not only have things not changed for the better - they have got worse!
I don't know whether any of you have ever experienced what I am about to describe. You have flashed the car in front of you for dawdling in the outside lane, the driver, usually a young man, changes lanes, but as soon as you start to overtake he swerves back out and then abruptly in, just to scare the hell out of you. This for daring to question his "king of the road" status.
I have come across this kind of dangerous driving a few times, but last week a similar incident shocked me so much that I intended to make a police report.
Driving along Pietà, away from Valletta, a huge blue coach was hogging the centre of the road, which meant that other drivers could not overtake either legally in the outside lane, or, illegally - a widespread practice - on the inside lane.
I had the cheek to flash the car lights and, on being ignored, used the horn. The driver of this coach full of tourists did the swerve trick on me. He thought it was hilarious!
I was so angry - not because of the fright he gave me, but because of the bad impression he must have given the tourists on board - that I memorised his number and stopped at the Msida police station to report the incident.
What followed could have come straight out of a comedy akin to Fawlty Towers, and would be funnier on video than in print. Two officers were behind the desk, one seemed to be busy with some paperwork and the other was looking on.
The latter took his time to acknowledge me, and the look on his face alone almost wiped all memory of the number I had so desperately tried to memorise.
So I asked him to please jot down the number I gave him. He didn't. I told him that this maniac in a blue coach tried to run me off the road.
"What did you do to him?" he asked sincerely. That did it. The number had by now flown right out of the window.
What on earth this officer imagined I could have done to a coach driver way up high above me beggars belief. I did not bother to argue that even had I insulted his mother, swerving a coach out to scare an overtaking car is against the law.
I walked off and just said, "forget it", and I did until Friday morning, when I read "Bus driver from hell" heading a letter in The Times. It brought the incident right back and also reminded me of a couple of e-mails I received complaining about various relevant incidents.
The letter referred to a driver who "flew into a rage, yelling obscenities" after he had ignored four elderly British tourists ringing the bell to get off at their stop.
Later, on the same trip, another foreign couple were grossly overcharged and it seems that the intervention of an ADT inspector only got him another barrage of expletives; no result and he just left the bus!
"Word of mouth is one of the cheapest and most effective marketing tools available. A tourist who takes back good reports on his/her holiday in Malta is bound to encourage others to come here.
"It is therefore vitally important that when things go wrong, i.e. incidents, which are likely to tarnish our reputation as a welcoming, friendly people, we should try to minimise the damage as soon as possible."
I wrote these words in June 1994, when I was reporting a bad incident experienced by a young Australian couple on a bus. The driver had been very aggressive after the couple complained that he had not told them that they had reached their destination.
When the police arrived on the scene, the conversations with the driver were conducted in Maltese and not translated to the couple, the policemen accepted the bus driver's version of events, and the tourist was marched to the station under arrest!
Then in November 2001 another incident provoked this: "Flying is safer than crossing the road, we are told, more so in Malta, where people get mowed down on pedestrian crossings.
"It makes me sick to see drivers speed across pedestrian crossings while people are still walking across what is meant to be a safe passage. Some drivers seem to think they are in a bowling alley where the pedestrians are the pins and the cars are the balls."
I was reporting an incident at Ta' Xbiex seafront, near the Busy Bee, when it was still early for the usual weekend chaos outside that café; I had stopped at the pedestrian crossing to let an elderly man cross the road. From past experience, I knew that I had to stick my arm right out to ensure no idiot in the outside lane overtook me.
To my horror, just as the man had passed my car, another car came alongside me, not showing any sign of stopping. If I had not shouted at the driver to attract his attention he probably would have knocked the poor man down, possibly killing him or maiming him. He managed to stop half-way across the crossing, just missing the man.
What had amazed me was that the old man, instead of shouting at the driver for his carelessness and telling him he could have killed him, calmly told him to be careful next time as many children used that crossing.
What a lesson on how things should be done! Instead of the driver getting defensively aggressive, he was suitably embarrassed and apologised for his bad driving.
Four months later, in an article entitled "Chaos Gate", I wrote that I was not surprised that a young woman was hit by a bus at the City Gate terminus. On the contrary, "I am surprised that not more people are hit by the buses whose drivers actually accelerate when they see people crossing the terminus... The buses, like the white taxis, are out of control at City Gate. As I have said before, the guys who drive these vehicles have made City Gate their very own republic. Plus ça change.
This is a letter I got last week; "I am sure you have sometimes noticed people double parking on the road, or parking on a bus stop, or stopping their cars right in the middle of the road, simply to buy a packet of cigarettes or some cheesecakes.
"This happens regularly in places like the main squares in Zurrieq and Luqa, where there are police stations nearby. Obviously, policemen simply pass by, ignoring what is happening. This obstructs the traffic flow and the public transport route. All this takes place regularly."
Yes, dear reader, I notice it all the time all around the island - Zurrieq and Luqa are not the exceptions. All we need is a bit of branding!
More trees at risk
I am afraid to report that I still have not had any response from the prime minister regarding the petition to save the trees at Castille Place. I have heard rumours that the idea has been shelved, but nothing official has been announced.
I have now received news of more trees facing the chop. This is what this reader had to say: "I highly appreciate your crusade against the total disrespect being shown to nature by the authorities, especially with regard to trees.
"I would like to bring to your attention the new road arrangements being carried out on Mdina Road to accommodate a new petrol station and car wash. These show that four very old Aleppo Pine trees (three in front of Ivory and Co. and another on the other side of the road) will have to be uprooted.
"All this to enable motorists coming down from Rabat to turn and use the station. As it is, only motorists going up to Rabat would have been able to."
Apparently these trees are on public land but the MEPA board has given the go-ahead to these alterations, which "will kill these trees in the process".
I am told that this case is being appealed to have the permit revoked. So if any of you feel strongly about this, register your complaint with MEPA and keep writing to the papers.