Road traffic by numbers

Caroline Galea's article Unwelcome Kings Of The Road (June 25) raises some valid points but some numbers and assumptions need to be clarified.

Ms Galea got some traffic statistics mixed up. There is a difference between "registered road vehicles" and "licensed road vehicles". The latter are the only ones that can be allowed on the road whether driven or parked and are, in fact, part of the number of registered road vehicles. The rest are garaged or kept off the road.

Her figure of 430,000 "cars registered to drive on the Maltese roads" is totally wrong. There are, in fact, 300,308 road vehicles registered to drive (licensed) on Maltese roads (NSO: 068/2010): 230,000 are cars (not 430,000) while the rest include commercial vehicles (47,337), motorcycles (14,400), public transport vehicles (1,400) and hire cars (5,000).

There are 221,000 licensed drivers. There can never be more vehicles on the move than the number of licensed drivers plus a few hundred tourist drivers.

The number of registered vehicles in Malta is irrelevant to air pollution, traffic incidents or congestion. The number of licensed vehicles is relevant inasmuch as they will occupy a road parking space or a space on the road while under way.

Ms Galea's awe at the number of licensed drivers on an island with a population of 420,000 seems over the top. Ten years ago, there were 206,345 driving licence holders, today about 221,000, an increase of seven per cent or the same increase as that of population growth over the same period. Would there have been this seven per cent increase in driving licence holders if a decent public transport system was in place a decade ago? Possibly not, but I would not expect much less.

As regards the number of licensed passenger cars, this would have likely been influenced downwards too if a popular public transport system was in place. There are drivers who find no pleasure in commuting with their own private car. This minority group would gladly leave their car at home or not own one in the first place and take a bus if the service is attractive.

The traffic characteristics of Maltese roads are unique enough that they cannot be compared with statistics of other European countries. Ms Galea quotes 2002 to have had 14,000 traffic accidents. The figure for 2009 is 14,877 and not 3,000, as she quotes. What is more relevant is that, in 2002, the number of casualties was 1,312 while in 2009 it went down to 1,069.

This is a direct cause of traffic congestion which reduces average speed and, therefore, the injury rate. Congestion is only relevant in certain times of the day. At all other times when congestion is absent, traffic speed increases and, in situations where inappropriate speed can be achieved, serious injuries and fatalities occur.

The recent increase in road fatalities was so sudden that it cannot be attributed to the slow, gradual rise in vehicle numbers or licensed drivers. In 2009, there were 21 fatalities. In the 12-month period to March 2010, 28 fatalities were reported.

The highest ever by far! This period also coincided with the increase in safety camera (speed camera) deployment. Speed cameras, therefore, are not an effective measure to reduce fatalities. Circumstantially, they may have actually contributed to the fatality increase by influencing driver behaviour beyond the cameras' range of action.

There is one glaring omission in Ms Galea's article. There is no reference to driving under the influence of alcohol, illegal substances, medication and medical conditions which prohibit driving.

Alcohol and substance abuse would prove to be the most important factors which directly contribute to traffic fatalities and injury followed by irresponsibility of some drivers which have a violent disposition reflected in their driving manner. In spite of a ray of hope when the Minister of Justice aired the intension to legislate in favour of increasing powers of law enforcers to test for drink driving, everything is still on the drawing board.