Drivers and passengers of quadricycles, including quad bikes, must now wear crash helmets under new regulations just published in the Government Gazette.
Quadricycles are defined in the regulations as four-wheeled motor cycles whose unladen mass is not more than 400kg, not including the mass of batteries in the case of electric vehicles, and whose maximum speed net engine power does not exceed 15 kW.
The number of quad bikes on the roads has considerably increased in the past year.
A new regulation, amending the Motor Vehicle Regulations, also provide for the amount of light to be transmitted through tinted windows in motor vehicles. It provides for a minimum of 75 per cent of light to be transmitted through a windscreen and a minimum of 50 per cent light transmission through the rear windows if the vehicle is equipped with rear view mirrors. Exemptions are being provided for on medical grounds.
Another amendment deal with the use of what is until now referred to as bus lanes. These will now be known as priority vehicle lanes and may be used by public transport vehicles, karrozzini, bicycles, motorcycles and heavy goods vehicles whose permissible maximum weight exceeds 7.5 tonnes, besides other priority vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and fire engines.
Another regulation has been amended in order to ensure that only garages being used for the garaging of motor vehicles are marked as such and to also ensure that road markings near or opposite garages may only be made with the approval of the Malta Transport Authority.
One other change concerns the use of mobile phones. The new regulations clearly prohibit a person from driving a motor vehicle on a road if the driver is using a hand-held mobile telephone or similar device, but allows the use of a hands-free device.
Other important amendments provide for stricter rules when certain vehicles are used to transport schoolchildren. A seat on a vehicle providing adequate space for two adult passengers may be used to seat three schoolchildren aged 10 or under until May 9, 2008. Minibuses transporting schoolchildren may only carry four persons in excess of the number of passengers allowed by the licence.
Drivers of vehicles transporting schoolchildren must operate the vehicle's hazard lights during all boarding and alighting of schoolchildren. The drivers must also ensure that the schoolchildren do not exit from doors opening into traffic and must not allow passengers to board or alight from the vehicle unless the vehicle is at a complete standstill.
Furthermore, drivers of such vehicles shall not carry standing passengers while the vehicle is in motion and every motor vehicle carrying schoolchildren (except private cars) must have a sign affixed on the front and rear of the vehicle showing two schoolchildren.