Man injured in Burmarrad crash

William Attard McCarthy

Jun 23rd 2010, 09:01

"...perhaps because they fear that the camera will follow them around."

LOL!!! Classic!!

...the worst is the Mriehel bypass, where 90% of drivers do not have a clue that a white round traffic sign with a diagonal black bar means "National speed limit applies"... then they proceed all the way at half the 80km/hr speed limit!

G Mangion

Jun 23rd 2010, 14:01

Another example is the regional road tunnels with a speed limit of 60km/h. So you are following someone at 50 or 55km/h and what does he do when he approaches the speed camera? Obviously, step on the brakes to reduce the speed to say 35 or 40km/h !! This is mega frustrating and it makes me wonder whether modern cars are equipped with speedometers ...... My car is a year 1991 model and in those days they had already invented the speedometer.

G. Zerafa

Jun 23rd 2010, 11:30

No matter what, excessive speed is always a very determining factor in the gravity or otherwise of a collision. A speed limit does not mean that cars have to travel at that speed, but merely that the particular speed limit should not be exceeded. If two vehicles moving at a speed below the applicable limits, the gravity of an accident will invariably be much less dramatic. It is inconceivable how vehicles end up totally destroyed in an area where the legal speed limit is say 50 kms when both vehicles were travelling below the said limit. It is evident, as any person who regularly uses the road network in Malta soon realises, that the horrific driving practices of many Maltese drivers is a major cause of accidents and evitable accidents which result in myriad needless injuries. May whoever was involved in this accident and similar accidents have a speedy recovery.

Wenzu Vella

Jun 22nd 2010, 23:01

William
Crush barriers or not, too many cars on tiny Malta.

Joseph Calleja

Jun 22nd 2010, 23:17

Stop blaming the crash barriers and put the blame where it belongs, the driver. Drivers in Malta don't realize that these toy small cars cannot take fast turns and they can overturn very easily. Most drivers don't observe the speed limit and never follow the driving rules. No crash barriers, no trees, no medians, no better roads can stop these accidents. The only thing that can avoid many of these accidents is safe driving which in Malta is a very rare thing. As they say trid toqod b'seba ghajnejn. And that is still not good enough.

L Bonnici

Jun 22nd 2010, 23:26

Crash barriers are not the solution .... they will only create a false sense of security and people will (unconsciously) drive faster when they see them. It's a well known fact!! What should be done is that roads are kept in good condition, they are (re)designed to become safer, and encourage drivers to drive slowly. A reduction of 10km/hr wouldn't make any difference in a small place as malta, but perhaps it would make a lot of difference for people who ended up in similar (or worse) accidents!!

N. Lawrence

Jun 23rd 2010, 04:34

Crash barriers cannot be used as an antidote for careless driving. All roads are scenes of car accidents. All roads are scenes of appalling driving standards. You want to erect crash barriers on every single road on the island?

William Attard McCarthy

Jun 23rd 2010, 08:27

@ all: I think you got me wrong here. I am not saying crash barriers should be erected along all our roads, and neither am I saying that they are the imperative answer... And yes, I am all out against reckless and dangerous drivers. However, as is the norm all over the world, crash barriers should be installed at points superseding valleys and waterways...

Come on, look at the clip again, that kerb is low enough to allow even a car travelling at 10km/hr to overshoot it.