The fundamental cause of the problems of safety and congestion Malta was facing on its roads was the unacceptably high level of motorisation, and more people needed to be encouraged to use public transport, Communications Minister Austin Gatt said this afternoon.

Speaking at a seminar on road safety, he said that Malta’s poor quality road infrastructure was often considered to be a contributing factor to in a number of road traffic accidents. In 2004, the government had carried out extensive road user risk assessments and audits covering main road network across Malta and Gozo. So far, over 30kms of the road network had been reconstructed and over the coming five years, a further 25km of main road network would be upgraded to the highest design and safety standards with a total investment of €100 million.

The authorities were also working on an entirely new approach to road construction and maintenance to step up the upgrading of the infrastructure beyond the main road network covered by EU aid schemes. They were also looking at introducing an Intelligent Traffic Management System in order to improve efficiency and flow of traffic, controlling speed and reducing congestion.

“But the real key to the solution lies in addressing the fundamental cause of this problem: the unacceptably high level of motorisation To do this, we need to encourage more people to use public transport and move away from all the present dependence on private cars,” Dr Gatt said.

For that to happen, the public transport system needed to be reformed.

“We need safe and modern means of transport working longer hours, more frequently and covering more of the national territory: in a few words a complete revolution from what we have today,” the minister stressed.