Care and saving lives (1)

Let us hope that the female pedestrian badly injured crossing the road in Sliema on Monday makes a full recovery. My comments are not intended to judge who was to blame in this particular accident.

Unfortunately, one does take one's life into one's own hands using zebra or pedestrian crossings. It does seem that a large number of drivers in a hurry think it is optional to comply with the Highway Code and they tend to give pedestrians precedence only if they have already started to cross. My wife and I were nearly wiped out in the middle of a crossing a few days ago.

Had we not jumped out of the vehicle's path it would have been curtains for us. I shouted at the driver who did stop and apologise, stating that the sun was in his line of vision. I politely advised him that he should pay attention to the road conditions; had he used a sun visor he would have seen us and had he taken notice of the clearly marked sign indicating the crossing he would not have got himself into a position of nearly killing both of us.

It is blatantly obvious that some drivers do not read road signs. If they did they would know to exert extra care when approaching crossings.

I am sad to say that although by reputation we are laid-back Mediterranean people, once behind the steering wheel we seem to lose our identity.