Closure of Sta Lucija ring road (1)

Charles Mangani of Tarxien (Blocked Ring Road, July 3) asked whether the decision to impose time-restricted access to the Sta Lucija ring road was "simply a decision to satisfy a few residents" living on the ring road.

Answering this question, one first needs to get the facts rights. There are two schools on the ring road, one for pre-grade children and the other a Junior Lyceum, hosting students from different areas including Tarxien. It is a known fact that fortunately, throughout the Maltese islands, all school roads have restricted access, so I cannot understand what this fuss is all about.

At certain times in the morning, as Mr Mangani himself pointed out, hundreds of cars used to pass through this road "in just two to three minutes" - definitely posing great risks to the children as well as the residents. The ring road was never planned to serve as a short cut for hundreds of cars.

I am not sure how Mr Mangani managed to arrive at the three-minutes figure, as the great number of vehicles using this road has always led to heavy traffic jams, especially near one of the Sta Lucija exits.

Mr Mangani describes the new arrangements as "unsafe, expensive and inefficient". On the contrary, I give the thumbs up to our local council which is trying to protect the village's inhabitants.

As for the cost of keeping the two wardens there, I am sure that our children's lives are far more important and definitely more precious than a few liri or minutes.