In an interview published in a recent issue of Paqpaq, the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport, Clyde Puli, is reported to have said that, as a keen motor sport enthusiast himself, his objective is to see a national racetrack built in Malta before he leaves office. This is about as ominous as having a Health Minister who is keen on encouraging tobacco smoking. Surely, our good parliamentary secretary must realise that such a move would only pander to Malta’s serious obsession with the motor car? Surely he is aware the car is probably the greatest contributor to the epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes and lack of fitness in our general population?
Today, when driving any carbon-emitting contraption has become politically incorrect, the very idea of building a national racetrack is grotesque. Malta has lots of good things that are conducive to a low-carbon, non-polluting healthy lifestyle, which we don’t exploit (or have destroyed). For one thing, we are surrounded by sea. This provides huge opportunities for hosting international water sports events.
On the other hand, the very idea of hosting world motoring rallies makes about as much sense as a waterpolo event in the Swiss Alps. As to using car racing to “attract tourists”, this is pure whimsy. Malta has the highest obesity prevalence in the EU – and it is well-deserved. Whereas it is commonplace in many European countries for adults to do short (and sometimes long) trips on foot or on a bicycle and for children to cycle to school, most people in Malta take it for granted that the only way to move from A to B is by car. Our children are conditioned from an early age to the motor car; they are ferried to school like royalty by their parents in a car or taken to school by bus. It is unheard of in Malta for children to cycle to school. Why?
There has been a plethora of well-meaning reports. For instance, the National Commission for Sustainable Development for the Maltese Islands 2007-2016 advocated “promotion of walking and cycling for short distance trips” but nothing happened. Malta is also a signatory to the Parma Declaration. This includes an undertaking to provide each child with an environment in which they can walk and cycle to kindergartens and schools and to green spaces in which to play and undertake physical activity. But, either through ignorance or lack of political will, nothing is done.
Mr Puli claimed to be “one of the driving forces” behind the bicycle refund scheme. He added that “we could do more”. Do more? Even this is an exaggeration. Malta has done exactly nothing to encourage cycling on our roads – and very little to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Our road designers remain stuck in a time warp of 60 years ago and still build roads specifically for cars while ignoring the needs of other road users. After decades of runaway property overdevelopment, our environment has been degraded and our surroundings are no longer conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
While Malta does everything to encourage car use, European countries do the opposite. Many countries have now caught up with Holland and Denmark. London, previously a bicycle-unfriendly polluted city, is investing many millions of pounds in adapting to the bicycle. Bicycle highways, where bikes have priority over cars leading from the periphery to the centre, are reaching completion. A fully signposted traffic-free cycle route between the centres of London and Paris, the so-called Avenue Verte, is due to be completed in time for the 2012 Olympic Games. The French are already plotting charging points for electric bikes in anticipation of future developments of electric bicycles. Major cities and towns now have extensive bicycle hire systems.
As to attracting tourists, Malta could easily be an attractive cycling destination. But first our roads and, especially, our driving habits, must be made safer for cyclists. Cycling is universal in technologically advanced affluent countries such as France, Holland, Denmark and Germany, so this would attract upmarket tourists. Malta is an interesting place to explore by bicycle during a short holiday as it is so small.
Mr Puli rightly says that “bicycles require a culture change that is worth pursuing in terms of national health and traffic congestion”. For this very reason building a racetrack would be insane because it would only serve to reinforce Malta’s deeply embedded obsession with the car and hinder any cultural change away from motorised transport.
The question of easing Malta’s car dependency is dealt with in part II of the think tank report Towards A Low Carbon Society – The Nation’s Health, Energy Security And Fossil Fuels (www.tppi.org.mt/cms/index.php/reports). Many copies of this report were supplied to government heads. Part III of the report deals with promoting bicycle use in Malta. Maybe Mr Puli should put away all thought about a fossil fuel-driven sport, which will do nothing to improve our health and well-being, and read this report instead.
And, yes, Mr Puli, why not give a good example and ride a bike to Parliament? If the septuagenarian author of this article can travel by bicycle, so can you.