Failure to upgrade road blamed for fatalities
The scene of the accident in Anton Buttigieg Street, Zejtun, last August.
A call for an official inquiry into why the ADT failed to carry out a project which could have prevented three fatalities in a traffic accident in Zejtun last August, is to be debated in Parliament on Saturday.
The motion has been presented by Labour MP Helena Dalli.
It points out that Triq Anton Buttigieg in Zejtun, has long been the scene of fatal traffic accidents.
20-year-olds Jonathan Seychell, his girlfriend Roxana D'Anastasi and their three-year-old daughter Kelsey died there in a horrific accident last August.
The motion says that Zejtun Council and the Traffic Management Directorate within the then ADT had prepared plans for an upgrading of the street to address the safety issue. The plans were finalised more than 18 months ago and financial costings had also been drawn up.
Nonetheless the project was not carried out.
The project fell under the responsibility of the ADT, as the body responsible for road safety, the motion says, and, because the ADT had failed to assume its responsibilities, three people had died in an accident.
The motion calls on the government to: hold an inquiry on why the approved project was not carried out; establish who held up the project, and establish deadlines within which the upgrading would be started and completed.
The project will include the creation of traffic islands and other measures aimed at slowing traffic and preventing overtaking.
The Times reported on August 29 that over the past decade six people died on Anton Buttigieg Street.
Two of the victims were elderly pedestrians, two were drivers and the others were passengers, according to statistics provided by the police.
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Collen Isherwood
Mar 20th 2010, 18:18
Anyone know at what speed the two vehicles were actually doing when the accident happened? did either vehicle have modifications to the engines, or other parts? One should always drive within ones ability to control the vehicle, and one should always acknowledge the road, conditions and also most importantly what is happening up ahead at all times, sorry but in my opinion the road is not as dangerous as stated, the road is there, therefore people have to drive and cross prudently, any one can start a vehicle, and drive at speed, stopping or driving with respect for other road users is tantamount, but the respect for other drivers does not exist in about 97% of Maltese drivers, standards are atrocious, try driving round Marsa either direction in the morning and afternoon, and see the number of drivers trying to cross lanes
V Battistino
Mar 20th 2010, 16:50
I believe that blaming authorities (including local councils for all that matters ) is a gross irresponsibility from the MP ! It is stated in Parliament and therefore enjoys privilege ! When speed cameras are installed, people are in outcry and blame an increase in taxes...when fatalities happen, the authorities are blamed for not making the road smoother etc etc !
And who to blame with overspeeding in a road (which I also use regularly) which is neither an aircraft runaway and neither a racing track....the state of the road is in itself a detriment for careful driving...if everyone (including myself) is agreeing that the road is unsafe, why overspeed in it ???
Install cameras immediately and then fix the road but never excuse the reckless drivers !
GiovDeMartino
Mar 20th 2010, 16:00
The more potholes, the safer the road! Because you'll have to be more careful and drive slower. Overspeeding is THE PROBLEM.
Matthew Muscat
Mar 19th 2010, 01:12
its about time they do something about this road. a very unstable road with few but large potholes, which can help you easily to loose your control! I live in this road, and only God knows what we see and hear..
M cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 21:27
Politics have a lot to do with accidents. If the law is not enforced then it is the politicians who are to blame not just the drivers and lack of education since politicians are supposedly in charge of enforcing the law and education also. As to the other comment J. Debono you are contradicting yourself first you say slow drivers are not to blame then you blame it on traffic when it is in fact these slow drivers that create a lot of traffic when they decide to drive 10m/h on the fast lane. If the law is not enforced then why write up a law in the first place.
J Oatmon
Mar 18th 2010, 19:38
If a driver crashes and no other vehicle is involved (nor any act of God thing like a flood or landsline, meteor etc), only his own vehicle, then the driver is responsible no one else.
It is not the road conditions/surface, not the weather, not the sun in his eyes, not trees beside the road, not the road surface, not road signs. The driver is responsible for everyone in his (or her) car and no one else, because the driver can drive slowly or stop if there is danger - it's the drivers decision, and he (or she) must takes full responsibility for his or her actions. Bad driving is bad driving and a 'nanny state' will not change that, accidents in Malta also happen on roads with excellent surfaces in broad daylight, for one reason bad driving, such as talking on the mobile, not paying attention, taking unecessary risks with overtaking, not thinking ahead etc.
T Camilleri
Mar 18th 2010, 22:57
Sorry to disappoint you but I've been with a friend who was just barely moving along in Paola near the lower Kordin roundabout and skidded on the wet road as it had been raining. There was a traffic policeman who initially jumped up because he thought that my friend was going to hit him although he was behind the barrier but not only did not book my friend because he saw that he was driving very slowly and it was the road that was extremely slippery but he even told my friend who had just had the fright of his life to just park on the side and wait a couple of minutes and asked him whether he needed to go to the polyclinic because believe me he had the fright of his life. Had my friend been driving a motorcycle he would have fallen off his bike and been injured. Perhaps there was some diesel on the road, but no one can deny that the roads in Malta are very slippery especially with the slightest amount of rain.
Marcel Dingli
Mar 18th 2010, 18:28
C Zammit, i saw your "sing", now you see my sign. True signs should be observed, my mistake there. However please acknowledge that very slow driving is a cause for accidents too.
J. Debono
Mar 18th 2010, 18:43
Slow driving is not a cause of accidents, it is the impatient driver behind that is a cause of acidents!!
Most trips in Malta are less than 10km,
if you drive at a mere 30km, you will still arrive at your destination in 20min.
At 40km in 15min
At 60km in 10min - if you find no traffic, no roundabouts, no stop signs etc.
See what I mean? The main reason a trip may take long is not the driving speed, but the amount of traffic, and it is useless speeding at 100km/hour for half a km, then stop for a few minutes at a stop sign. Might as well slow down at the first place and avoid an accident.
K. Compagno
Mar 20th 2010, 07:18
I agree with you here. I spent some time living in the northern regions of malta and consequently many trips took me longer than 20 min, even with a clear road ahead.
slow drivers CAN cause accidents.. take for example the route from rabat/mtarfa roundabout to st.paul's bay via mosta and burmarrad.. this route is completely single lane with no place to overtake!!! get a slow moving truck or a sunday driver driving at a snail's pace, and surely there will be people who'll risk by jumping on the opposite side of the road.
Another thing is speed restrictions..i'm talking about those zones with a particular limit lower that the national limit of the area.
I've recently come back from abroad, and observed that the only speed restrictions (lower than the national limit of that area) are there for a reason.. like for example a sharp bend on an 80km/h road which has a speed limit of 50km/h round the bend.. and rightly so..
in malta you see a speed restriction on a dead straight road for no obvious reason...case in point bkr bypass passed the speed camera.. why?
Joseph Calleja
Mar 18th 2010, 18:22
Correction to my previous comment.
It is a well known fact that most Maltese drivers don't observe the rules of the road, a lot of us are very reckless and very impatient, and we become a dangerous weapon when put behind the wheel. It is those drivers that make it bad for everybody else. Not all of us are reckless, but most.
Joseph Calleja
Mar 18th 2010, 16:57
99% of accidents are caused by the driver and nothing else. It is a well known fact that Maltese drivers don't observe the rules of the road, we are very reckless and very impatient and we become a dangerous weapon when put behind the wheel. We always seem to find a way to blame accidents, speeding, overtaking and every other mishap on the roads. Now we are even blaming trees for getting in our our way and causing accidents. Bring back the motorcycle police because that's the only way Maltese drivers are going to slow down and drive responsibly. We have the motorcycle police because you see them all escorting dignitaries around the island. It is worth a try, maybe we can stop the reckless driving on our roads and slow down road accidents, maybe even save some lives. We need to drive more defensively. And please leave politics out of all this, it's a matter of life and death.
Micallef H
Mar 18th 2010, 16:37
I would ask ADT whether it carries any skid surveys and if not what policy does the ADT follow with regards to this matter. If the accidents mentioned where wet skidding accidents and the road has not enough skid resistance, then ADT is liable for the lives of the people who died.
A. Grech
Mar 18th 2010, 16:36
@C. Zammit:
nice! very humanely put.
Roderick Bajada
Mar 18th 2010, 16:27
@ C.Zammit.
I have never seen an animal drive / drive badly. I have only seen humans do that.
So your point is is null.
Only humans are to blame.
C.Zammit
Mar 18th 2010, 15:36
@Marcel Dingli - If everyone drives 45 when the sign says so and if everyone drives @ 60 - 70 or 80 when the sign says so there will not be any accidents. These accidents happen because some people are worse than animals.Can't call them humans. Did you know that when approaching a zebra crossing you should slow down? I am saying this becasue I saw a car crash in the opposite lane that I was in on the other side of the road. Someone was driving behind a car and drving very close when the car infront started to slow and stopped on a zebra crossing. The care at the back crashed into the car that a human being was driving.Lucky he did not push the car on the people crossing!
Mary Ann Borg
Mar 18th 2010, 15:31
lgalea wrote: I suggest that the relatives sue the ADT offiers responsible for not taking action to make the road safer. Sue them PERSONALLY not the ADT because they were responsible for not taking the necessary action to make the road safe and they should not hide behind the ADT to get away with it.
Fair enough lGalea, then let's go personally for all the students left out of university during your Mintoff's and KMB's times, let's go personally for Fortunato at the Dockyard, let's go personally for the people who lost their jobs at the old Phoenicia because of your GWU, and the list is endless. Or perhaps, we should go PERSONALLY for people, like your Joseph, who told us to stay out of the EU. Perhaps even the Icelandics should go PERSONALLY for Joseph for having given them the wrong opinion of opting to stay out of the EU.
lgalea
Mar 18th 2010, 21:59
A totally irrelevant comment. Going back in history shows that you have no valid comment to contradict what I and others have said Mary Ann. It simply shows your hatred for anything PL.
mario gellel
Mar 18th 2010, 15:16
Hey Guys, have you ever driven in a road with Potholes and new paint inside them as if "il-Hofor ma jezistux"?????
Timmy Farrugia
Mar 18th 2010, 15:10
they also failed to mention that extreme lack of grip that our roads have especially when they are slightly wet. sometimes it is like cars are hovering on our roads the grip is so low!!!! in foreign roads cars drive at much higher speeds yet their cars are stuck the ground!!! also, there are many potholes that are so large and/or deep that can make a car lose control!!!
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 15:17
@Charles Muscat: Better late than never.
Ernest Vella
Mar 18th 2010, 14:47
The accident happened due to lack of patience which lead to a riskful overtaking as we see daily on our roads like that from Attard to Rabat and elsewhere. The road as seen in the photo is well mantained...only a centre strip is needed but than someone will say than that the roads are to narrow.
MP. Helena Dalli while having all the rights to question such things on the othe hand we cannot blame who took it slow to make the road upgrade because this accident happened due lack of responsability of Maltese drivers...Yet, another time May they rest in peace...WARA KULHADD BRAVU
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 15:19
No, the road is not well maintained, and has not been maintained for a long time. I know. I travel through it every day.
Charles Muscat
Mar 18th 2010, 14:34
Why this issue came up so many months later? Someone please explain.
Paul Barrett
Mar 18th 2010, 14:34
Drivers have to spend too much time watching the road surface for holes just in front of them that they often miss speed, direction or any other signs which can and should add to road safety. Dodging holes in the road can cause accidents and is especially dangerous for motorcyclists who not only have to watch out for holes, oil or water but also for erratic or unexpected sudden change of direction by other vehicles.
G. Grech
Mar 18th 2010, 13:57
Seems like Labour MP Helena Dalli is trying to gain political advantage by this road accident. Jeopardising and slowing further our traffic flows is not actually increasing the road safety.
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 14:35
1. Helena Dalli is only tabling a motion on plans that were already finalised by the Traffic Management Directorate and the ADT. So it is not as if Helena Dalli is opposing government policy. She is only questioning why the plan has not been put into practice.
2. If the plan would greatly slow the traffic flow, how would this gain "political advantage" to Helena Dalli?
Some people only see red and blue. I guess they have excellent 3D vision.
G. Grech
Mar 18th 2010, 15:42
Dear Kenneth. I think you can easily read other people's comments and see that the whole point is of the accident was reckless driving, and not just the bad state of the road. So I guess that your 3D vision is as good as mine.
DUncan Sant
Mar 18th 2010, 13:52
@ M Saliba.... I really cannot understand why you are trying to ridicule the comment made by J. Borg. Have you ever driven on this road to comment?
The paint used for the markings is VERY dangerous. It is normal paint, which when damp / wet is very slippery, and when dry it is also very reflective as it is GLOSS paint, not proper rad paint. I was driving along the road and stopped at one of the 4 (yes 4) traffic lights, and on taking off I just got a lot of wheelspin because of the wet paint. Can you imagine someone travelling over the paint with a motorcycle?
I am not saying that the road alone is the problem.... it is also us drivers who make it dangerous. I was driving along this road and even though there are now continous white lines (ie, no overtaking) I still see vehicles overtaking (especially commercial vehicles).
lgalea
Mar 18th 2010, 13:46
I suggest that the relatives sue the ADT offiers responsible for not taking action to make the road safer. Sue them PERSONALLY not the ADT because they were responsible for not taking the necessary action to make the road safe and they should not hide behind the ADT to get away with it.
RGatt
Mar 18th 2010, 13:22
@ M Cassar - I never realised ADT is a political party. Grow up Mr. Cassar and take off your red sunglasses - or should I write Master Cassar?
We all know our roads are not the best, but most of our drivers are the worst anywhere.
Marcel Dingli
Mar 18th 2010, 13:13
Yes,C Zammit, observe speed limits. You shouldnt be going at 45 kmh when it is safe enough to go at 70 or 80. Slow driving is just as dangerous as overspeeding.
Shaun Camilleri
Mar 18th 2010, 13:01
What does the ADT do?
Suck Money out of our pockets
What is the ADT supposed to do?
Make our lives easier by managing traffic, roads, etc.
What is the ADT responsible for?
A rock,(hardly visible) in the mediterreanean
How good are they at doing their job?
NOT AT ALL
FIX THESE STUPID DEATHTRAPS. PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR LIVES, THE REST ARE LEFT TO MOURN THEIR LOVED ONES!!
WHEN WILL THINGS CHANGE??
Not in a million years I guess.
When will people start being held accountable??
Quite about time innit!
but I guess this is all wishful thinking!!
J. Debono
Mar 18th 2010, 12:48
Roads are ONLY dangerous when one overtakes whilst there is oncoming traffic.
I have come to the conclusion that roads full of potholes are safer (but less comfortable), than roads with new/good tarmac!!
The reason - some drivers drive like maniacs on good roads, making life dangerous for themselves and for the unlucky driver who passes the same road at the same time!
And I'm not talking about speeds of 80km/hour, but higher, much higher speeds.
C.Zammit
Mar 18th 2010, 12:42
Stop blaming the roads. Learn to observe speed limits. This week I was driving and I drove past a sing saying to drive at 45. I did drive at 45 but around 7 cars went past at high speeds maybe let's say 65 -80. Observe speed limits in the roads and you don't crash. Can't feel sorry for people who die because of reckless driving. The only pity is when they kill someone else.
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 13:10
Agreed, but still, even if there is no overspeeding, the state of this particular road is so terrible that you cannot keep to your lane without risking leaving your tyres behind.
N. Borg
Mar 18th 2010, 12:40
@ J. Farrugia
I agree with you completely, let us not blame the (sorry) state of our roads for irresponsible and reckless driving.
M cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 12:31
J Farrugia does it pain you to see your political party messing up. I guess so, at least you did not blame the PL for the accident as that is the usual Pn excuse blame the socialists.
David Ganado
Mar 18th 2010, 14:15
Do you have to get politics into this also? we are talking about dangerous driving/roads and the risk of death; politics does not come into it. Get a life!!
Clifton gatt
Mar 18th 2010, 12:26
I use this road on a daily basis,and yes the road is not to its standard,with many side streets giving acess to this busy road.Lately about 3 sets of traffic lights were insatlled and new markings painted.This does not make it less dangerous,but it is also the drivers responsibility not to do any silly overtakings .as this is still going on.Also the pedestrians should wait for the traffic lights to cross the road not just push and go,or else push the button and dont wait at all.
Tony Gatt
Mar 18th 2010, 12:26
@ J. Farrugia
Well said. Because this is a straight road people try and overtake regardless of circumstances. It is reckless drivers that cause accidents.
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 13:01
Agreed. But what shall we do to stop the reckless drivers? A central strip is a good idea.
Fresh tarmac to cover the craters is another. Try driving along this road, or along Triq il-Qaliet, Marsascala (from near the swings to St Thomas Bay). In some places, you have one of two choices:
1. Keep in your lane and risk bursting your tyres on the craters (or worse).
2. Do not keep in your lane and risk a head-on collision.
Tony Gatt
Mar 18th 2010, 15:13
I drive along this road regularly when I am in Malta. Although it is a straight road there is a slight dip half way along which masks oncoming traffic. One of the cardinal rules in driving is not to overtake on the brow of a hill.
Sadly, a lot of people just ignore this. Removing potholes is not a cure-all.
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 15:35
"One of the cardinal rules in driving is not to overtake on the brow of a hill. Sadly, a lot of people just ignore this. Removing potholes is not a cure-all".
True. But leaving the craters (potholes is an understatement) there compounds the risk of a head-on collision.
John Falzon
Mar 18th 2010, 12:21
If the authorities don't want any accidents then they should introduce MINIMUM speeds as well as MAXIMUM ones. Too often in that road we get vegetable hawkers, trucks filled with rubble and other assorted vehicles including horse drawn carts plodding along at 20-30 KM/HR. So what if the road is labelled as a 50Km/HR road. It is such frustrations (espeically when heading to work in the morning) by such selfish oafs that invariably force one to overtake. There are already traffic lights in place and they are doing a good job, so please enough with this talk of traffic islands - just put up some barriers along the sides and let the road be.
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 12:18
Oh, but the new street markings running over the craters look nice.
J.Borg
Mar 18th 2010, 12:15
This road is very dangerous, even more so lately when there have been done street markings.
Lately i was driving along this road, about 5pm, coming from Zejtun towards Bir id-Deheb. The sun was shining and there were huge reflections coming from the paint used. This especially where special road markings were made. It was really difficult driving along that road in those conditions. Maybe the Authority will look into this and maybe change the type of paint used, so as that there aren't any reflections emanating at certain times.
M. Saliba
Mar 18th 2010, 12:21
Maybe the sun shouldn't have decided to go down while you were driving ... or we can put signs for the sun to go down the other way lol
J Farrugia
Mar 18th 2010, 12:12
who are these people trying to kid. Roads are NOT responsible for deaths on our roads. It is the drivers' responsibilities which are called into question here. Let's not indict our roads as the prime culprits. Even if they are built wrong, still the drivers are never absolved of their responsibilities towards pedestrians, their own passengers, etc. Even pedestrians are sometimes themselves responsible for their own deaths. So blame it on the marines.
Kenneth Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 12:20
You probably have never driven along this road. I do so twice every day. Yes, in this case the road is the culprit.
Steve Cassar
Mar 18th 2010, 12:32
the only solution to avoid accidents are :
1) education - people must have patience when driving not overtake whenever possible! thats how accidents happen
2) introduction of central strips to avoid overtakings especially during the nights.
Some people cant understand that the roads are not dangerous ... us the drivers make it with reckless driving!