Five injured in spate of traffic accidents

Joe Galea

Sep 5th 2008, 08:11

OMG, it seems that the roads were skiddy to say the least. Well done to the road constructors who construct roads with soap scales and biodegradable material (after some more rain our roads start to dissolve and we will start seeing again those lovely pot holes). And if I am not mistaken part of our licence should fund better road building. Hehe it funds the bank accounts of these contractors. Only in Malta!!!

jim towers

Sep 4th 2008, 20:42

Question
Does the sign `road chippings` appear in the Malta highway code?
Probably not.
People wouldn`t know what it meant through no fault of their own.

Ray Gatt

Sep 4th 2008, 09:58

@A Daley - you forgot to mention the 900,000,000 wasted on the drydocks. Or are these untouchable in your red eyes. As for Mater Dei, you all know it's state of the art. You just critisize anything PN. Have you even bothered to take notice of the action taken by the ministry? The accelerator pedal is also called gas pedal by some simply because the more it's pushed, the more gas (fuel) goes through. We are not the perfect country, far from it, but we are definately living better than we did between 1971 and 1987.

As for our roads, yes most of them need doing badly. A couple of years back, I had talked to Mr. Jesmond Mugliette on a radio program about the piece of new road between the roundabout beneath Mdina and the roundabout at the start of Mtarfa bypass and remarked that the surfacing was not done properly. The mixture was not right, resulting in soft and shiny surface. Mugliette replied that he knew about the problem and the contractor had to redo it at his own expense. Till this very day it's still the same. Got worse now. Mr.Daley I critisize my own as well.

Peter Korsten

Sep 4th 2008, 09:32

Ah, a Hyundai Accent again. Didn't even manage to get two stars in the crash test, and basically has the structural integrity of a cardboard box. I feel sorry for the driver and his loved ones, but this is just such an unsafe car.

Ray Gatt

Sep 4th 2008, 09:29

@Kevin Borg - where in Germany was it that the car you were driving skidded just like it does here. While on the autobahn (motorway), I proceed towards the ausfahrt (exit) at 70/80kms, and never ones did my car skid. And this sometimes in heavy rains and even snow. The only time I skidded was when the road froze. You either had low tyres or else hardly any grooves in the tyre (lixxi).

C. Weitze

Sep 3rd 2008, 23:00

I have just had my own experience with the reckless driving instructor near university round about, who was speeding and zick-zacking like a lunatic.

How somebody, who breaks traffic regulations 3x in minutes, can work as a driving instructor is beyond my understanding!

But a general problem is, that many drivers - everywhere, not just in Malta - don't have a clue about :

How to drive on highways - especially near bridges -
in mountain regions or
How to deal with Rain/Water/Snow/Ice/Fog/Oil on the road

..................................AND control their cars at the same time!

ADAC offers the famous slingshot course and teaches you how to react and control your car in dangerous situations. This should be a MUST for everybody.

I agree that the Maltese roads are slippery after the first rainfall - but so are German roads after a night of frost.

It is not true that there are no speed limits on German highways - there are plenty.

BUT in tiny Malta every accident is mentioned in the papers,whereas German's regional papers only mention fatal accidents.

I believe that the driving qualifications in Europe are pretty much the same - only the style varies from place to place.

I Abela

Sep 3rd 2008, 20:52

@ Mike Knight - quote (that to say a guy is driving on my left then all of a sudden they tend to go faster and zig zag to the opposite lane , it reminds me of our red arrows). Sir, you might want to know that there are two lanes (in some roads) for a reason, surely not so that you have a choice on which side you want to drive. Obviously since the other guy zig zagged in front of you, then you were driving too slow in front of him. Can you please tell me who gave you (and many others like you) the right to block my way? If you don't have anything better to do than drive, then just stick to the left side of the road. If you leave the overtaking (right) lane clear then you won't see red arrows flying by. It's really funny how people like you first block other peoples way then complain because others come in front of you.

Mike Knight

Sep 3rd 2008, 19:07

I have read all these comments below and i do agree 100% with most, however on my life i cannot understand why in such a small tiny compact islands the maltese government allow all these foreign car registrations entering the country hopeing to register their vehicle to a local maltese plates and i also noticed on these high performance vehicles that their road tax has expired were as the maltese have to abide by the rules and regulations for the previlige to drive on these unfit roads as one might say.If that was me driving a long and big heavy car as in the wild west and try to park it that would obviously take two car space , i would tend to feel rather embarrassed and feel ashamed to drive such big car just to show the neighbours :Look i'm bigger then You, so sod off : just one last point i would like to make, why do i see so many road HOGS? that to say a guy is driving on my left then all of a sudden they tend to go faster and zig zag to the opposite lane , it reminds me of our red arrows.

Kevin Borg

Sep 3rd 2008, 19:00

@ A Daley

It seems like you have a short memory when it comes to history. Again as I did re the article of tables and chairs I am going to refresh your memory.

Marsascala By-Pass - Designed by the late Lorry Sant with a compressor pipe and laid over agricultral soil of a few individuals.

Mtarfa By-Pass - Re constructed lately. When excavation was carried out it was found that the road was built on soil.

St.Paul's Bay by-pass - God knows the specifications that were used in the Tender. It was built in 1984. Laid on soil and rubble. It had depresions of 0.3m in its surface.

Have you lately visited a road construction site? Maybe you have noticed that unlike the 1980's we are using concrete and graded gravel as sub-base, and tarmac is laid in a two stage system. Far from the 1980's roads, which according to your knowledge are better than the ones constructed lately.

Grow up and stop this degrading campaign. Even your party is trying to detach itself from it. And please read a couple of books re the gloriuos 1980's you like so much to glorify.

A Daley

Sep 3rd 2008, 18:32

J Farrugia, don't come out defending the regime that feeds you lies about the state of the art roads, when all we have is worse roads then we have ever had.

We are a state of the lies, with the worse roads in the world and now we cannot even eat at our only small Hospital of 800 beds, that cost 750 million Euros.

Grow up and realise where all the National Debt went.

It's not the millions going to a few contractors that count, but value for money.

By the way - the right hand pedal on a vehicle is known as the accelerator and not Gas!

WASTE!

Mike Knight

Sep 3rd 2008, 18:15

The cause of these accidents is mostly due to very fast driving by un-inexperienced YOUNG* drivers who think they are driving on a highway as in my country max.speed limit of 70 M.P.H. probably watched too mu8ch high speed TV. To top it all the maltese roads are not fit to drive on at this moment in time, we've seen better roads in the out back of Ozzi, besides we have never seen such bad drivers as the maltese and needless to say the old gozitans who just show off infront of tourists - no road sence or consideration to other road users who passed their driving test the legal way., i was told that its not the passing of a test that counts but what happens after that is the main object . Malta needs more speed cameras,more traffic lights and by god a tougher driving test, would probably saves more lives and unnecessary deaths to young school children . the rest is history! T.T.F.N BrucieDBarbarian

J Oatmon

Sep 3rd 2008, 17:35

The roads in Malta are poor, but the standards of driving and the state of some vehicles is more of a concern to me.

For instance I see some very agressive driving by lady drivers every day - a 'me first whatever the rules of the road' attitude, not 'after you the obstruction is on my side of the road'.

The other thing to consider is this- is a 20 year old car travelling at say 70kph as safe as a 5 year old car the same speed - no.
Many old cars have minimal amintenance and have poor brakes (no computerised braking, or general stability systems), and in many cases poor steering and poor tyres, poor lights etc.

My point is that a certain speed may be unsafe in a poorly maintained 'old clunker', but very safe in a modern car, and most younger drivers can only aford an old clunker.

Kevin Borg

Sep 3rd 2008, 17:32

@ D Buhagiar

Don't you think that this was a shallow comment. Why is it always that we tend to down grade all that is local. Do you really think that cars abroad don't skid in the rain? Watch the foreign news and you may convience yourself that foriegn roads, like local ones, do not have glue on them to keep you from skidding. Accidents like the ones reported in this article happen abroad. As I said in my post the problem with local raods is the exessive amount of dust on the surface.

P.S. I had good tyres Buhagiar.

A. Hili

Sep 3rd 2008, 17:21

J. Farrugia, please not the following:

21 year old - slight injuries
23 year old - escaped serious injury
26 and 20 year old - slightly injured
57 year old - GRIEVOUSLY injured

are you sure that these accidents happened because the drivers are young, inexperienced and drunk and not because the roads were wet??!

Joseph E Briffa

Sep 3rd 2008, 17:16

The surface on most of our roads needs redoing...one can see the light reflecting on the dry surfaces meaning there is poor friction. The markings on most of the arterial roads are not repainted...why don't we use yellow paint instead of white? And why are our road markings obliterated after a few months? Our traffic volume is quite high but it's nothing compared to that on the autostrade and the autobahns; yet one never experiences these obliterations in Italy or Germany or Great Britain. So what is being done wrong in Malta; is it the type of paint used? The Roads Authority must wake up from its slumber and do its duty. It's surprising that Minister Gatt doesn't prod the Authority into action.. Is it possible that Malta is still not capable of looking after a few hundred kilometers of roads? If funds are the problem, then the road tax of heavy commercial vehicles MUST go up. The Eur120 annual tax for trucks, buses, concrete mixers, mobile cranes etc must be done away with. Nothing less than Eur250 for heavy vehicles; and Eur500 for the over 20 tonners.The revenue should go to road maintenance not in the consolidated revenue fund.

L Galea

Sep 3rd 2008, 17:02

@m farrugia

The guy is crazy.

Do they have the same high temperatures in Germany that we have here?

Have you ever been caught in a traffic jam or slow-moving traffic in any of the single lane roads which this guy turned all our roads into?

I don't think that his contract was of a single digit, but I think that it was NOT worth more than that. A single digit.

This is apart from the quality of roads as rightly indicated by the other respondents.

André Xuereb

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:57

Andrew Gatt: I fully agree with you. Driving on (most of) the A roads in the UK between villages is simply a pleasure -- if you feel like slowing down, you are not blocking anyone; whereas if someone slows down, they will not block you. Contrast this with the stupid one-laners we have in Malta. Ridiculous, simply ridiculous. What if an emergency vehicle has to pass? Lack of foresight created these dangerous death traps.

Andrew Gatt

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:52

All that the German consultant that ADT hired did was to turn most of our roads into single-lane-no-overtaking-anywhere pathways!!! Water traps with no access for rescue vehicles, either! Ever been stuck behind one of those trucks grinding along at 10kmh? Or been stuck for hours after a bumper-to-bumper at San Gwann!!!!!!!!

D.Buhagiar

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:47

To Kevin Borg.....was it a country road used only by tractors in which you "car tended to skid in the same manner as it did locally"??????????? Or maybe you needed to change tyres???
Come on!!!!!!

G. Fenech

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:43

So.. J Farrugia

You've either never driven in the rain, or you think that all young people are alcoholic drivers. I mean, seriously! I must admit i'm not the most experienced driver, i've only been on the road 10 years. But i ride a motorcycle and drive a jeep - without drinking alcohol. And i've also driven abroad, in very bad rain, and snow, and i know for a fact that our streets are utter crap.

Its useless denying it and saying that we must stick to the speed limit and stop giving youngsters alcohol. I've lost control of the motorbike driving at 10Km/h on wet roads here in Malta.. and no.. i wasnt drunk.

Kevin Borg

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:36

I think everyone should learn to slow down when driving on wet roads. It is not the fault of the roads that accidents happen, but because some driveres pretend to keep driving in the same manner they do when roads are dry. I drove in many foreign countries that are renowned for their state of the art road surfaces such as Germany. While driving in a down pour the car tended to skid in the same manner as it did locally. The only exeption is that Maltese roads after summer tend to be covered with fine dust and this helps to make them a liitle bit more slippery.

Instead of blamming the roads everyone should learn to slow down a little bit when driving on wet roads.

Ivan Galea

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:33

@ A Camilleri

Agree 100% with your comment,,,,,,I have driven across alot of countries in Europe....in adverse weather conditions too. It is sad to see that our roads act like a mirror in summer and like a man made river during the wet season. Yes...no way out of the mess we reduced our island to but seek pastures new.....no wonder all new open minded graduates are fleeing the island.

J farrugia

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:27

@ KEvin Chircop and Arthur Magri and G Fenech - Putting the blame on the roads of Malta is putting it mildly ridiculous. Why not put the blame on the inexperienced drivers, who at 1.30 a.m. are still driving on the roads, full of alcohol etc. Besides don't forget that at about 12.30 - 1.30 there was a storm over Malta road were wet. and therefore accidents DO happen cause the roads become slippery due to the dust accumulated in our roads in Summer. So instead of blaming the roads blame the drivers who do not know how to drive. pushing the gas and the clutch only doesn't mean you know how to drive and that is exactly what these youngsters do. They do not know where the brake pedal is. As for P Borg, his comment is stupid enough not to merit any comment.

Scerri S

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:26

After not a single drop of rain in 3 months (as reported), I guess some drivers forget just how dangerous driving on wet roads can be

m farrugia

Sep 3rd 2008, 16:03

We Maltese need to understand once and for all that we cannot exceed 40km in built up areas and 70-80km/hr on major roads if we want to keep safe.

Even in Germany, where there is no speed limit on the autobahn, which cannot be compared to any Maltese road becuase of our obvious space limitation, speed limits go down as low as about 40 km/h in roads in built up areas, to which many Maltese roads can be compared.

Some years back, ADT got a German road safety consultant, and everyone was moaning that this guy is crazy when he recommended these speed limits.

It's useless moaning about speed limitations. That's the way we can all feel safe.

G. Fenech

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:52

@ Joe Tabone-Adami

I agree with you that a certain amount of prudence and experience may help when driving on our roads, and that we cannot blame the weather for car accidents, but that does not excuse the poor state of the roads. Yes.. these rains do come every year, and similar accidents are very common, but that should be all the more reason for the roads to be upgraded, and maybe an awareness campaign for new drivers around the time when the showers start would also be a pro-active approach....

wishful thinking i guess...

paul borg

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:43

@MR.Fenech. Mr. Mugliette used to boast the fact that he used to put recycled glass inside the tarmac, that's why they reflect!!

A Camilleri

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:39

Dear G. Fenech I have given up on Malta altogether. Comments like these all reinforce my informed decision to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

John Borg

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:35

Not only after a prolonged period without rain are our roads are deadly, but unfortunately, on nights like last night the danger is compounded a hundredfold! Living in Mellieha means that I have to negotiate the hill leading towards Mistra a few times a day and even when the roads are clean, it is still a very dangerous road. It is simply due to poor design and inferiour materials used. The new roads are of better quality as you can feel the proper traction whilst negotiating the roundabouts. How long they will last is anyone's guess! The same applies to road markings. Can you imagine road markings lasting a few months on some of the highways abroad? It would mean that they would be re-painting them for ever on a daily basis!

Joe Tabone-Adami

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:29

The night-time rains, coming after summer's dry weather,are being blamed for the accidents reported. Should one presume that last night's storms were the first of their kind in Malta and that those involved had no experience of what could happen to our roads in such instances?

G. Fenech

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:23

As a motorcycle rider, this is one of the worst times of the year. The state of the streets are horrible and the first few showers are deadly. I still cannot understand why the quality of gravel in the tarmac is so incredibly inferior compared to our European neighbours. A street shouldnt reflect sunlight off it when it's dry... its kind of common sense. I've given up on seeing any changes in my lifetime. The Government seems to think that the money we pay in road tax should be spent elsewhere.

Arthur Magri

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:16

If I am not mistaken it rained at 2.30am (subject to correction). Thus recless driving is the cause of most accidents not to mention the stat of roads.

Kevin Chircop

Sep 3rd 2008, 15:02

I agree - the roads are in a pitiful state however most drivers do not seem to understand the very basics in driving i.e. if the roads are wet slow down because you could endanger yourself and others.

kevin galea

Sep 3rd 2008, 14:55

OBVIOUSLY BECAUSE OF THE RAIN. MALTESE ROADS ARE LIKE SOAP AFTER THE FIRST RAINS!!