Cycling on St Julian’s promenade

I refer to last Sunday’s news item regarding mayor Peter Bonello and his council’s proposal to introduce a bylaw banning cycling on St Julian’s promenade (December 26).

Yes, there may be a small percentage of dare devil cyclists, just as there are dare devil car and motorbike drivers daily on our roads here in Malta.

As a mature person over 60, I confess to being one of those law-breakers who regularly ride on the promenade from Sliema to St Julian’s. But to date, I have never had an encounter with a pedestrian.

I have tried to ride on the road alongside vehicles but found my nerves constantly frayed, especially when a bus or similar vehicle brushes beside me (this is not always the drivers’ fault since narrow roads, for example, is also a contributory factor). Avoiding manhole covers, potholes, oil slicks and dodging ongoing construction work has became a precarious art in itself.

Why should I be banished to the road? If I am, it may be only a matter of time before I am being treated at Mater Dei... or worse.

The government is trying desperately hard to fight obesity by encouraging residents to do some form of physical activity, especially cycling. But, by adopting St Julian’s council’s proposed motion, the problem is aggravated. The promenade in question varies in width, even reaching over six metres in places before it reaches Sliema.

Taking this into account, would the learned mayor and his council members get their heads together to solve this problem to the mutual satisfaction of one and all?

Perhaps they could also discuss the regularly escalating problem of dog mess on the promenade, which forces pedestrians and cyclists to be on the constant alert to manoeuvre round them.