Car torque - Roads and street furniture
It's been a long time since we actually congratulated either the Transport Authority (ADT) or, for that matter, a council for doing a first rate job in surfacing and marking a relatively little used secondary road. The newly refurbished road linking...
It's been a long time since we actually congratulated either the Transport Authority (ADT) or, for that matter, a council for doing a first rate job in surfacing and marking a relatively little used secondary road. The newly refurbished road linking Ghajn Tuffieha to the Mellieha Bypass, except for the first untouched 30-metre stretch, is however a road that can now be chalked into some architect's cv as a great achievement.
In reality, its now such a pleasant road to use that the, to me, unknown contractor, and I strongly suspect a very professional team of road 'painters' probably under instruction from my old friend Louis should take equal credit with the architectural and survey team in getting things to such a high standard.
The photo shows the approach to Manikata Church, with a nice bold SLOW painted on the road surface, an instruction that will please the traffic police section because they are very aware that painted instructions on the road's surface are far more often read than the metal street furniture, so often the subject of pretty severe vandalism.
An exit was made the other day from Maghtab towards Salina onto the Naxxar road and, to the disgust of the carload of experienced Maltese 'rallyists' in the car, the large rectangular mirror that makes this exit at least bearably safe had, for the second time, been stolen (see photo).
Not only is this a monumentally stupid thing to do, but, bearing in mind that lives are of more importance than money, it is the most crass stupidity on the part of Naxxar Council in not replacing it, or, if the ADT still has responsibility for this road, it is crass stupidity in not forcing the mounting of the replacement mirror, post haste.
Yes, I, like thousands of other motorists, could have reported the matter but, as it's obvious to all Sunday Times readers of Motoring that, although I worked for both the Traffic Control Board and the ADT, I am totally ignored by the august management heavyweights who could get things moving at high speed.
A couple of years ago I was asked to make the service roads running alongside the Birguma Bypass safe. Unfortunately, at the time, there was little money to provide a 'relief' road on the Gharghur side of the bypass and so all residents had to bear with the massive inconvenience of having the service roads restricted to 35 km/h, reinforced with road humps and made One Way in the direction of the nearby traffic lane.
For the past few weeks persons unknown have stolen a number of No Entry signs from the Naxxar side service road. This encourages an accident to happen because all regular users will be aware that the service road is One Way, while visitors, especially those joining the service road from one of the many junctions, may well be totally unaware that they cannot turn against the traffic flow.
Once again, Naxxar Council has to accept that it is their responsibility to ensure that all street furniture is correctly in place at all times, and if an accident occurs it may well get pretty expensive, and turn very dirty when the political implications of having a mayor married to a government minister, force themselves into the conscious awareness of all those in the claims arena.
October Vintage Car Week
Recently I had to submit a piece on this fascinating week-long vintage journey for our in-flight magazine.
I researched the subject as well as I could by contacting the local organiser. We should be able to enjoy the Gozo Rally, the Maltese Rally, and the Concours d'Elegance at the Upper Barracca. But at the time of writing, the core piece, the Valletta Grand Prix, will be a non-starter unless the ADT pulls out all the stops at least two months before the event.
It needs to engage the help of professionals who can resurface where necessary, using non-slip materials, and can place protective barriers that will not only stop crashing vehicles from falling off the road, but will ensure that they crash doing a minimum of damage to their vehicles.
Not only will we not have a grand prix, but we will also lose face big-time on the international field, partly because among some pretty well known foreign entrants (80 out of the 100 teams expected), we will be entertained by the French Minister of Education driving a car that his father designed and built.
Some of the better known vintage racing cars, like the Alfas and Bugattis will be conservatively valued in the millions of Euros, and, when racing elsewhere, they race safe in the knowledge that every attempt has been made to have as suitable a track, or hill, as modern technology can produce.
It would of course be unfair to mention the poor bloke in the ADT who had this problem thumped onto his desk by name, but he is most certainly old enough to have visited various circuits and hill climbs abroad. So, frankly, if his knowledge and interest in motor sport is as negligible as has been suggested to me, he is going to be in for a most unpleasant surprise in the non-too-distant future. Tough luck mate.
More driving examiners' problems
Any motoring columnist worth their salt would be able to fathom out the little annoyances that I regularly highlight. It just so happens that I spent time, not for long, 'tis true, as an examiner.
A couple of years ago it was largely rumoured that so that the public should get a fair chance in the eternal lottery for driving licences, instructors who wished to better themselves should be trained and tested, and when they had passed a pretty rigorous examination they would be able to carry some sort of accreditation.
You the general public would then be able to choose an instructor who knew, and took pride in, what was being taught, or you could choose to go along with one of a happy-go-lucky gang of gung-ho instructors out to make a series of bucks, possibly by not teaching the syllabus as well as the examiners and pupils had been led to expect.
Factually, the instructor's manuals are written and approved by the British exam board. The examiners over here examine pupils to those same manuals.
Sadly, not all instructors are literate, nor can they speak or understand enough English to make a success of the job.
As usual in Malta trade union representatives run the show and are absolutely against any sort of accreditation, as it might show themselves or some of their members in a less than favourable light.
It matters not a jot that youngsters' lives are in fact in the hands of luckily only a few very dubious characters, the great majority of instructors being very keen to have this financially rewarding accreditation scheme up and running as soon as possible.
I feel the management of the ADT should have total control over the licensing of driving instructors, and that the union representatives should be intelligent men and women of impeccable character and a degree of education.
This would enable them to understand that it is in everyone's interest that the instructors as well as the examiners are all men and women whose livelihood depends on producing safe, well taught pupils for the examiners to successfully put through their paces.
Union representatives as well as the rest of the instructors really should be literate, and because of the demanding role they have accepted, their spoken and written English, along with their ability to translate instruction pamphlets and even manuals into good Maltese, must surely be beyond reproach.
In reality, its now such a pleasant road to use that the, to me, unknown contractor, and I strongly suspect a very professional team of road 'painters' probably under instruction from my old friend Louis should take equal credit with the architectural and survey team in getting things to such a high standard.
The photo shows the approach to Manikata Church, with a nice bold SLOW painted on the road surface, an instruction that will please the traffic police section because they are very aware that painted instructions on the road's surface are far more often read than the metal street furniture, so often the subject of pretty severe vandalism.
An exit was made the other day from Maghtab towards Salina onto the Naxxar road and, to the disgust of the carload of experienced Maltese 'rallyists' in the car, the large rectangular mirror that makes this exit at least bearably safe had, for the second time, been stolen (see photo).
Not only is this a monumentally stupid thing to do, but, bearing in mind that lives are of more importance than money, it is the most crass stupidity on the part of Naxxar Council in not replacing it, or, if the ADT still has responsibility for this road, it is crass stupidity in not forcing the mounting of the replacement mirror, post haste.
Yes, I, like thousands of other motorists, could have reported the matter but, as it's obvious to all Sunday Times readers of Motoring that, although I worked for both the Traffic Control Board and the ADT, I am totally ignored by the august management heavyweights who could get things moving at high speed.
A couple of years ago I was asked to make the service roads running alongside the Birguma Bypass safe. Unfortunately, at the time, there was little money to provide a 'relief' road on the Gharghur side of the bypass and so all residents had to bear with the massive inconvenience of having the service roads restricted to 35 km/h, reinforced with road humps and made One Way in the direction of the nearby traffic lane.
For the past few weeks persons unknown have stolen a number of No Entry signs from the Naxxar side service road. This encourages an accident to happen because all regular users will be aware that the service road is One Way, while visitors, especially those joining the service road from one of the many junctions, may well be totally unaware that they cannot turn against the traffic flow.
Once again, Naxxar Council has to accept that it is their responsibility to ensure that all street furniture is correctly in place at all times, and if an accident occurs it may well get pretty expensive, and turn very dirty when the political implications of having a mayor married to a government minister, force themselves into the conscious awareness of all those in the claims arena.
October Vintage Car Week
Recently I had to submit a piece on this fascinating week-long vintage journey for our in-flight magazine.
I researched the subject as well as I could by contacting the local organiser. We should be able to enjoy the Gozo Rally, the Maltese Rally, and the Concours d'Elegance at the Upper Barracca. But at the time of writing, the core piece, the Valletta Grand Prix, will be a non-starter unless the ADT pulls out all the stops at least two months before the event.
It needs to engage the help of professionals who can resurface where necessary, using non-slip materials, and can place protective barriers that will not only stop crashing vehicles from falling off the road, but will ensure that they crash doing a minimum of damage to their vehicles.
Not only will we not have a grand prix, but we will also lose face big-time on the international field, partly because among some pretty well known foreign entrants (80 out of the 100 teams expected), we will be entertained by the French Minister of Education driving a car that his father designed and built.
Some of the better known vintage racing cars, like the Alfas and Bugattis will be conservatively valued in the millions of Euros, and, when racing elsewhere, they race safe in the knowledge that every attempt has been made to have as suitable a track, or hill, as modern technology can produce.
It would of course be unfair to mention the poor bloke in the ADT who had this problem thumped onto his desk by name, but he is most certainly old enough to have visited various circuits and hill climbs abroad. So, frankly, if his knowledge and interest in motor sport is as negligible as has been suggested to me, he is going to be in for a most unpleasant surprise in the non-too-distant future. Tough luck mate.
More driving examiners' problems
Any motoring columnist worth their salt would be able to fathom out the little annoyances that I regularly highlight. It just so happens that I spent time, not for long, 'tis true, as an examiner.
A couple of years ago it was largely rumoured that so that the public should get a fair chance in the eternal lottery for driving licences, instructors who wished to better themselves should be trained and tested, and when they had passed a pretty rigorous examination they would be able to carry some sort of accreditation.
You the general public would then be able to choose an instructor who knew, and took pride in, what was being taught, or you could choose to go along with one of a happy-go-lucky gang of gung-ho instructors out to make a series of bucks, possibly by not teaching the syllabus as well as the examiners and pupils had been led to expect.
Factually, the instructor's manuals are written and approved by the British exam board. The examiners over here examine pupils to those same manuals.
Sadly, not all instructors are literate, nor can they speak or understand enough English to make a success of the job.
As usual in Malta trade union representatives run the show and are absolutely against any sort of accreditation, as it might show themselves or some of their members in a less than favourable light.
It matters not a jot that youngsters' lives are in fact in the hands of luckily only a few very dubious characters, the great majority of instructors being very keen to have this financially rewarding accreditation scheme up and running as soon as possible.
I feel the management of the ADT should have total control over the licensing of driving instructors, and that the union representatives should be intelligent men and women of impeccable character and a degree of education.
This would enable them to understand that it is in everyone's interest that the instructors as well as the examiners are all men and women whose livelihood depends on producing safe, well taught pupils for the examiners to successfully put through their paces.
Union representatives as well as the rest of the instructors really should be literate, and because of the demanding role they have accepted, their spoken and written English, along with their ability to translate instruction pamphlets and even manuals into good Maltese, must surely be beyond reproach.