Driving perils on Maltese roads

As another three people die on Maltese roads it seems the only sane ones among those who chose to comment publicly on the accident are the relatives of the deceased young man, in their moment of grief, for they seem to have been the only ones reported not to have lambasted the government for not building a centre strip on the road where the fatality occurred.

When is it going to dawn on people that Malta's roads are not built for speed? And that the state cannot be held responsible for a wrong choice people make when taking the wheel of a motorised vehicle?

Malta in its entirety is no bigger than the size of a city with virtually no non-built up areas separating one town from another and merely a stretch of road of perhaps a maximum of three kilometres in length, with a few converted girna along the way.

I suppose people don't realise how hilarious it is for foreigners to see the number of four-wheeled vehicles, which are primarily designed for long-distance travel and extreme weather conditions such as snow, on Malta's roads. Some holes in the roads, which have not been resurfaced to date, and the occasional use of a country lane or perhaps a crossing to Malta's sister island do not justify the use of a four-wheeled vehicle or a relatively high-powered car, for that matter, which, therefore, only serves to pollute and ruin this island further.

With a speed limit of only 50km/h, how much time can one gain in a distance of a maximum of 27 kilometres? Is people's conscience solely their ego or perhaps they simply have no problem in paying more money to insurance companies and/or to have their cars serviced and maintained substantially more often?

They can run at very low miles per gallon in a practically in-town island where there is no momentum helping to push these vehicles forward.

Of course, this is not to say that the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) has nothing to answer for. They could, for example explain why right of way traffic signs have been put up all along the road leading from the airport to Birżebbuġa when it is so obvious which driver has the right of way, given that the adjacent roads are of minor importance. They could also use mobile speed camera to randomly identify drivers who adopt a Lighting McQueen attitude when they come across a static speed camera by religiously slowing down just prior to passing the camera and accelerating as soon as it is not possible for the camera to detect the car's speed. Most certainly they could zoom in on noisy mobile discotheques, which are not only offensive to people who are compelled to hear them but a hazard to drivers who undoubtedly are not in a position to hear and make way for an emergency vehicle.

Could the ADT explain how it is permissible for cars to be heavily accessorised with lights in all colours and places? These things cause undue distraction to drivers. And as if that were not enough, how about the extremely dark-tinted windows that do not allow one to identify a driver in case of an accident? Surely there are ways and means for the ADT to hold random checks on cars from time to time to ensure that laws and regulations are observed; it takes no expert to classify a vehicle as being a dangerous machine. It is high time people realised that motorised vehicles are not a deluxe extension of a matchbox toy but a necessary evil in society which should be used cautiously and not to try to impress.

In terms of lights, is it so abnormal for one to have headlights on throughout the day as is done in the greater part of Europe? While headlights are useless for illumination, they are very useful for identifying moving cars at a distance because it is easier to notice moving light sources than to identify the shape of a car and looking at their much weaker signal lights, even in broad daylight. So third party drivers should not feel obliged to warn other drivers to switch off their headlights. Many people and, especially, foreigners are more than simply aware of the highway code and what constitutes safe driving and so switch their headlights on purposely. Perhaps Maltese drivers should focus on the way they drive and make an effort to ensure they use their indicators when they are required to do so.