Instilling responsibility on our roads

So much is being written about the allegedly misplaced – and I say it is because what looks right in theory and on paper is not always right in practice – newish pedestrian crossing in Floriana.

Manuals and other literature pertaining to other countries have been quoted from.

But then again what’s good for England, does not necessarily mean that it’s good for Malta. Speed limit on motorways in England will shortly go up to 80mph (128.7kph). Does that mean that we in Malta should increase the speed limit as well? God forbid, it’s already bad as it is!

Joe Fleri Soler (Pedestrians’ Attitude At Zebra Crossing) touched on the subject of pedestrians’ behaviour when it comes to crossing the road. I quite agree with what he wrote. The vast majority of pedestrians think that they have a divine right of way when it comes to crossing. And I am not referring to just pedestrians’ crossing.

Many a time drivers come up against people about to cross the road just a few metres from a crossing.

Sometimes if a driver doesn’t stop to let them cross he/she gets the middle finger and abusive language.

Mr Fleri Soler also mentioned the fact that people should be educated and disciplined by the authorities. Here again I fully agree with him. Discipline and education go hand in hand, and like love and marriage, you can’t have one without the other. I think that a person will become more conscious when he sees a warning sign about the hazards of negligent crossing than when told about it.

For this reason I “designed” a small poster, which, if placed (it need not be exactly the way I did it) at every pedestrian crossing, will visually warn the pedestrians of the dangers of crossing haphazardly (above).

I trust the authorities, local councils, Transport Malta or whoever is responsible and cares for people’s safety will take it up upon themselves to educate and instil a degree of responsibility that is so, unfortunately, lacking among us Maltese.