On the dot

• There was a time when Go mobile telephony phone-cards had tax deducted from them as soon as one inserted the PIN number in. This is no longer the case. Therefore, the company could save a lot of money - which could eventually be returned to clients in the guise of special offers - by issuing multi-purpose cards for Easyline and Go mobile use.

Undulating

• It is definitely not advisable to transit through Princess Margaret Street, Msida, just off the premises of Continental Cars Limited, soon after having eaten. It is a stomach-churning experience. The street needs at least one layer of evenly-surfaced tarmac and this is absolutely necessary before the winter rains make the situation worse.

Parking

• Space is already at a premium in the heavily-populated Fleur-de-Lys hamlet. Therefore, it adds insult to injury that the number of cars for sale along Fleur-de-Lys Road on the roundabout side often number up to eight.

Misuse

• Motorcyclists who park their bikes in white boxes clearly intended for cars are, at best, misusing such a facility. Indeed, it might even be a case of abuse if not an outright violation of traffic regulations. Will Transport Malta, the police or whoever, explain whether such large white parking boxes can also be used by motorcycles?

Warned

• A van, sometimes two, parked in Dun Ġwann Theuma Street corner with Triq Dun Mikiel Xerri, Attard led to complaints by motorists about the danger this practice caused to traffic. Double yellow lanes were painted and, yet, the abuse persists. It is now time for solid action.

Traps

• It has suddenly occurred to many people that "accident black spots" are not dubbed that for nothing. Is it possible that there are no ways to change the lie of the road, its camber or gradient and surface to alleviate the situation? Moreover, there are areas all over the island where one only notices oncoming traffic after turning almost blind corners as well as others where trees planted on pavements or roundabouts detract from the necessary view of the road. One accident is already one too many.

Injuries

• It has now been ascertained that the accident to a teenager who was permanently injured after falling off a tail-lift van was partly brought about by the type of vehicle obtaining for the trip and the fact that it was overloaded. One wonders how often checks are carried out on any type of transport for children and youth, not only during the normal scholastic year, which is seen to be done, but when it comes to vans used for foreign students or youngsters taken to summer schools.

Overtime

• Whatever happened to the idea of a curfew for teenagers? One still notes individuals, the worse for drink, who are hardly more than children, sleeping it off in several areas, including beaches, of the island. How about making parents responsible for their offspring who are not yet adults? Perhaps hitting them in the pockets would make parents reconsider allowing their children to remain outside, risking fights, drunkenness, or injury, till the early hours.

Misleading

• The sign indicating Citadel, Ta' Pinu, etc, at the entrance of Vajrinġa Street, in Victoria, from St Francis Square, indicates the direction towards St Augustine Square. Since there is no other sign on the way, tourists often assume they have reached the Citadel itself when, actually, they would still be in St Augustine Square. Inadvertently, they are heard commenting that it is not what they imagined a walled, fortress-like building to be like. The mayor of Victoria ought to see to this discrepancy as soon as possible.

Watered

• People who frequent the Bay Street shopping complex area regularly note copious amounts of water in the street, at all times. The source seems to be on the incline of St Rita Street, on the left hand side, from a small ducting incorporated into the pavement. It could be the outflow from the air-conditioning units of a catering establishment. There is a pipe protruding from under the pavement in front of the Vodafone shop outlet.

Cameras

• E-mails are regularly sent out to mailing lists indicating the exact locations of speed cameras on the assumption that forewarned is forearmed. However, many motorists still appear to think they can drive hell for leather in residential areas, especially at night when the streets are virtually empty. Apart from causing noise pollution, one never knows when a car would be coming out of a side-street.

Darkness

• It is pathetic to note that traffic policemen and wardens have to gauge the tint of windshields and other vehicle windows using solely their eyes. Some plate glass used in cars is photo-chromatic; dark enough to get a fine slapped on the owner during sunshine hours but virtually colourless in the dark. One wonders whether motorists are invited to drive into the shade, and the windows allowed adjusting, before the visual-test is made.

Picnics

• A lot of publicity was given to the Għar id-Dud promenade refurbishment. The owners of the recently-erected ice cream vending kiosks, however, are making hay while the sun shines. Seating areas are encroaching upon a much larger part of the promenade than before. Night-time watchmen park their cars on the pavement a few metres away from the kiosks. Does the permit for a kiosk come with a permanent parking permission attached to it?