Traffic hazards, disturbances in Lija

The letter by my friend Leo Vassallo Cesareo (September 25) regarding the heavy vehicles which pass through the narrow streets of Lija is a challenge for the local council. It is not only the damage they cause to balconies and façades but the poisonous exhaust fumes and noise which emanate from these vehicles. The gas man's horn every Wednesday before seven in the morning is a case in point.

The council must not be afraid to impose restrictions but it must also enforce them. Unfortunately, the question of enforcement is a malady with us Maltese.

The council also needs to control the amount of vehicular traffic which speeds, not drives, through its narrow streets making it a dangerous place to walk in. These drivers, in their majority, are non-Lija residents, who use the village as a short cut to get to the Birkirkara bypass. Another bone of contention is the continual flouting of the one-way street which leads down from the Tal-Mirakli chapel area to Conception Street.

The local council has done so much good work but successive councils have never seemed to solve or at least alleviate the traffic in our village.