Death trap near the Marsascala junction

The two very bad accidents which occurred within less than 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20, on the stretch of road between the traffic lights at the entry/exit of the Marsascala bypass and the Hompesch arch roundabout have compelled me to send this letter. I had the misfortune of witnessing the damaged cars and the disruption of traffic on both occasions.

I am a daily user of this stretch of road, more than once daily on most days, and try to avoid it when I can as accidents are a regular occurrence.

Drivers entering or leaving the petrol stations and supermarket cross the crowded and busy lanes with impunity, putting other law-abiding drivers at risk.

The police at the Żabbar police station can bear witness to this if they published the number of times they are called out to this short stretch of road.

Something absolutely needs to be done to prevent this death trap from causing more accidents and to prevent irresponsible and reckless drivers from crossing the traffic lanes and showering drivers who do not stop to let them through with verbal and other insults.

A removable barrier, for example metal poles with chains as are in place in pedestrianised zones in Valletta, could relieve this situation.

Even better in order to complement this would be a roundabout instead of the traffic lights at the Marsascala junction. This would have a double result.

Firstly the users of the petrol stations and the supermarket would be compelled to turn around the sort of island formed by the two roundabouts rather than cross lanes.

After all, this would only mean a few extra metres but could save lives and the congestion caused when accidents occur.

Secondly, it would also solve the problem caused by the traffic lights for the smooth flow of traffic. The tailback of traffic coming from Marsascala waiting to go through the traffic lights in the morning rush hour sometimes stretches back for nearly a kilometre.

Similar tailbacks build up in the evening rush hours in the other direction.

This happens in winter, and gets worse when the population of Marsascala increases significantly in summer - some say it doubles - or on Saturday evenings.

Most times while there is little or no traffic coming from the direction of Żabbar and Cottonera, long tailbacks build up on the lanes leading into or out of the Marsascala by-pass.

The lights are also not well set to reflect the greater volume of traffic leaving and entering the by-pass as generally not more than half a dozen vehicles succeed in turning because the green lights are of a very short duration.

Certain drivers even drive through the red lights probably due to the frustration of long waiting for the lights having to change a few times before they can go through.

There is enough space for a roundabout at this junction. Traffic regulates itself as necessary around a roundabout.

The removal of the traffic lights on the roundabout on the Regional Road and the smoother flow of traffic when the traffic lights were removed is a clear enough lesson that traffic lights are not necessarily the only or best way of improving traffic flow.

The public has learnt and observes the rules pertaining to the use of roundabouts, and on this junction where the volume of traffic from the different directions is uneven, a roundabout would be a better solution.

I appeal to the authorities responsible for road traffic flow to do something and not to wait for another accident with the attendant loss of life and property.