In his 'Wide Angle' column (The Sunday Times, August 26) Lino Spiteri makes some very valid points about the implementation and administration of fixed speed cameras in Malta.

So far, the ADT has resisted entering into the public debate on the operation of the speed camera at Notary Zarb Street, Attard, as we have consistently maintained the position with the local council that a speed camera is required at this location for safety reasons and that the road design speed limit along this section of road is 50 km/h.

The request for the installation of a speed camera in Notary Zarb Street was submitted by Attard council in October 2005. In correspondence dated December 7, 2005, the council urged the ADT to give the speed camera application immediate attention "due to considerable overspeeding and numerous accidents happening almost weekly".

As the regulating body responsible for speed camera site approval at the time, the ADT assessed the application according to the following site selection criteria as defined in guidelines published by the UK Department for Transport in 2004:

• At least eight personal injury collisions over three years, including at least four people killed or seriously injured as a result of speed-related road collisions;
• At least 20 per cent of drivers exceeding the road design speed limit;
• Loading and unloading of the camera can take place safely; and
• No other engineering solutions can be implemented in the short to medium term.

The speed camera site proposed by the council satisfied all these criteria and was subsequently approved by the ADT in April 2006.

Following this approval, the local council had written to the ADT on May 9, 2006, contesting the established 50 km/h road speed limit, stipulating that this speed limit, "differs from that recommended by our council (45 km/h), which has gone through a lot of consideration vis-à-vis the accidents and damage to residents and the drivers concerned".

We confess to be somewhat confused by the lengthy contribution by Ralph Cassar, the Alternattiva Demokratika councillor for Attard (August 12), coupled with recent actions by the council to 'blind' the camera. One can safely arrive at the conclusion that the main 'inconsistency' relating to this speed camera lies with the changing positions of the council!

On June 15, the council requested the ADT to increase the speed threshold for this camera from its current setting of 55 km/h to 60 km/h on the grounds that "the council feels that this limit is too low and drivers who use this stretch... are being penalised for sheer distraction with a fee which is too excessive for them to bear".

Since the setting up of the Local Enforcement Systems Committee, such requests for changes to speed camera settings no longer fall within the legal competence of the ADT. The council was subsequently advised to refer its request to this committee. However, the ADT had pointed out these injury statistics relating to road traffic accidents in the critical catchment area of the Notary Zarb Street speed camera:

• January 2005 to April 2006 - No speed camera installed
• two grievous injuries (one driver and one passenger)
• four slight injuries (three drivers and one passenger)

When the speed camera was installed between May 2006 and June 2007 there were zero injuries. The resultant decrease in road traffic accidents speaks for itself!

Mr Spiteri also referred to the road which leads towards the Rabat housing estates from the Roman Villa. Thankfully, Mr Spiteri appreciates that the transport authority does not have an easy job and, with somewhere in the region of 6,000 different streets in Malta - many of which were poorly constructed - it certainly does not have the financial or human resources available to do everything at the same time.

ADT has to prioritise its works according to hierarchy, road usage and road condition, and is able to implement its work programme in upgrading arterial and distributor roads, with the aid of EU funds and national funds, as well as residential roads. ADT is committed to build more than 450 residential roads by the end of 2008.

The road mentioned by Mr Spiteri was technically inspected by ADT road engineers several months ago. This road, like many other older roads, was not constructed to accommodate today's weights and volumes of vehicles. It is clear that the road would require complete reconstruction rather than a routine maintenance at an estimated cost of over Lm100,000, excluding road widening and the required expropriation of third party land.