Road hazards for all users

It was bound to happen. A cyclist who injured herself because one of her bicycle tyres got caught in a drain grate, cracking her chin, bruising her face and ending up with a broken jaw, is considering suing the responsible authorities for damages.

If she did, she would presumably claim that the way the drain grate is laid - in line with the run of the road instead of opposite to it - represented a hazard.

Transport Malta told The Times it was sensitive to cyclists' issues and needs. So it should be, though it is a fact that the vast majority of our roads were not designed and constructed with cyclists in mind. But if cycling is to be encouraged, for health and energy-saving reasons or just the fun of it, a road adaptation programme has to be undertaken.

Trouble is, cyclists are not the only road users facing hazards and the Transport Authority has its work cut out to reduce hazards and upgrade the inter-urban road network, while local councils too have a massive task to bring the roads for which they are responsible in their localities up-to-date.

The state of our roads has been a bad joke for decades. With a Nationalist government in office for 21 of the past 23 years, the ministers who manned it must be held responsible for the fact that not enough progress has been made to make the joke less belly-busting. That implies there was some progress, and of course it is so.

I only used the reconstructed Żabbar/Marsascala bypass recently, since I do not frequent that part of the country very much. It is a splendid piece of work, both in the way the road has been designed and in its execution. The mock-rubble walls running along parts of its sides are very attractive and those responsible for laying down manhole covers showed that it is possible, after all, to align these with the road surface.

That's a rare ability. Far too many roads have manhole covers sunk well below the surface of the road, or jutting above it. They are another hazard to cyclists and motorcycle riders, and an inconvenience to the rest of us who drive a vehicle. They have nothing to do with the potholes that pepper so many roads. They represent an indifference of execution, which is sometimes put right, as happened recently in the newer part of the Mtarfa bypass, but generally speaking are left to deteriorate even further.

When I remarked to friends that the Żabbar/Marsascala bypass was a well-executed project, cynics among them observed that is the road used daily by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. Maybe that influenced the contractor(s).

But there are other roads that are also very well finished, such as that leading from the Rabat/ Attard outskirts to Mġarr. Other cynics say that reflect the fact that the Queen was to use that road for the Commonwealth Head of Governments' Meeting in Malta.

One can be too cynical, and that does not help. The fact is that traditionally we have been lousy road builders. Perhaps the Romans did not teach us that capability when they were here and, as for the British, they made sure that the roads leading to their stations and married quarters were well executed, but gave not a fig to the rest of Malta.

More likely the trouble lies with the materials used, the designs prepared and the proclivity of some contractors to return shoddy work for the money they received, aided and abetted by public officials who should supervise and certify them.

Transport Malta's ongoing task is not simply to plan and build more roads, and repair those that can be improved that way. It is to see that design, materials and execution are all efficient. If one element is inefficient, the roads will not last, as those built since the 1950s, including under the Labour years, have not lasted.

Moving further, I have an old bone to pick with Transport Malta. It concerns the road signs which should not merely guide pedestrians and drivers alike, but also protect their safety. Most of the road signs in Malta are fading. Some of them, including stop signs and zebra-crossings, are well nigh invisible.

They are accidents waiting to happen. That many do not is due to the fact that we are so used to the terrible state of road signs that most of us take extra care when they sense there should be one coming up. But this particular joke cannot continue. It is already evident, I noted, in the almost brand new Żabbar/ Marsacala bypass.

The authorities know exactly why our road signs disappear, thereby creating a real hazard to pedestrians and drivers alike.

It is because they are simply painted over old ones, rather than applied through a baking technique which would lengthen their lifetime multifold.

Fading or invisible road signs and sunk or protruding manholes add to the hazards of thousands of potholes one must navigate along our roads. It would be interesting to learn what Transport Malta, which must be conscious of the hazards weak road signs and irregular manholes represent, intends to do about them within an acceptable timeline.

Their existence is bound to lead to some bad accident. The victims will know whom to hold responsible.