Consider pedestrians too

One doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry on reading the report Government Does Not Care About Pedestrian Safety – Labour (September 2). There must be something terribly wrong when political parties engage in mindless squabbling over a simple routine question of traffic calming on a short one-mile bypass.

Equally disturbing is the inability of our traffic authorities to decide what to do because they are still firmly stuck in the 1950s’ third-rate style of thinking, when cars were fewer on our roads. Malta’s antiquated attitude to traffic contrasts starkly with the fast-changing approach in other countries where roads are now regarded as a public space, which belongs to everybody and more consideration is given to other road users such as pedestrians, children and (dare one say it?) cyclists.

In spite of mounting deaths on our roads, traffic authorities simply continue to give higher priority to traffic flow than to human lives. This attitude is also common to many motorists, as reflected in so many repulsive comments on The Times website from bloggers who repeatedly insist on passing the blame onto the victims every time a fatal road accident occurs, with fatuous callous remarks like “they should have known better” and so on. Much the same happened after the death of a cyclist after a hit-and-run accident.

Things must change. A road is a public space which belongs to everybody and there must be mutual respect for all those who use it, be it pedestrians, children or cyclists.

The problem here is straightforward: Mrieħel bypass is a wide road which some people occasionally need to cross but cannot do so safely. It is not a motorway. It is a mere one-mile stretch.

Speed is not an issue, as proved by a speed camera presumably placed there to decrease traffic speed to 60kph.

The risk-benefit equation is between possible loss of life of pedestrians who cross the road, on the one hand, and flow of traffic on this road, on the other. If this were a motorway in a country where travelling distances, often measured in hundreds of kilometres, demand high speed driving, then a bridge would be the only solution. In this instance, a bridge is not the answer – but some traffic calming is urgently indicated – and this applies equally to other roads where there has been loss of life. As it is now, the Mrieħel bypass invites drivers to drive at speed until they reach the speed camera sign where they slow down abruptly. There is absolutely no protection for people who endanger their life every time they need to cross the road.

Transport Malta remains stubbornly ignorant of modern approaches to protecting pedestrians. Given a situation as this, what would be done in a progressive country? Probably something like this: A roundabout would be created at the junction with the side-road leading into the industrial estate – making it safer for motorists turning into the industrial estate. Two well-sign-posted zebra crossings with bright Belisha beacon signs would be installed at suitable distances from each other on either side of the roundabout, which is approximately halfway. These would have a slightly raised platform with a central refuge island and clear road markings. To this one might add a rumble-strip to remind drivers of the crossing ahead.

The combination of roundabout and four pedestrian crossings would induce motorists to drive more carefully at a slower speed but not impede flow in the least. Even if a speed limit as low as 60kph were imposed along this short bypass it would not significantly alter travelling time of vehicles using it. Were such an arrangement already in place, the young victims would not have died.

It is about time that TM considers the needs of pedestrians and not motor vehicles only.