George Debono is correct when he queries in the strongest terms the totally ‘odd’ decision to make the punishment for severely injuring two girls attempting to cross a road lenient – to the point of being nonsensical when the motorist was driving at 100 km/h in presumably a 50 km/h area.

It is the incorrect or irrespon­sible use of too high or low a speed that causes problems- Hugh Arnett

Along with the chairman of the Traffic Control Board, I suggested 35 km/h speed limits be introduced in the more hazardous sections of urban roads in a bid to make motorists stick to a reasonable speed – below the 50 km/h blanket speed limit.

Factually, the 50 km/h limit in most urban roads is totally acceptable, especially since the introduction of far more demanding driving tests and the even more pertinent fact that, while thinking time has not changed over the years, braking distances most certainly have.

If 50km/h was acceptable before the advent of decent disc brakes, ABS assistance and all the electronic wizardry now in-built in most cars, it most certainly is a very pertinent upper limit for normal urban driving. It should also be obvious that slower speed limit signs should be placed in those roads and areas where it is vital to drive slower.

It has to be remembered that we live in a ‘nanny’ state, whereby the individual, in this case a driver, should not be heaped with too much responsibility for their actions behind the wheel.

What a load of old rhubarb

In 1954, when I started driving, the stopping distances shown in the UK Highway Code were exactly the same as today: i.e. from 48 km/h it may have taken a car 23 metres to be brought to a halt. That is a thinking distance of nine metres and a braking distance of 14.

These days a modern car can be brought to a total halt, including thinking time, in the region of 16 metres, simply because tyres, brakes and suspension have all been improved over the years.

Speed in itself is never the cause of trou­ble. It is the incorrect or irresponsible use of too high or low a speed that causes problems.

It would be a slander to suggest that Transport Malta is to blame. Certainly, it is the responsibility of Transport Malta to ensure all street furniture, carriageway markings, pedestrian crossings and pavements on arterial and distributor roads are kept in pristine condition (which they are most certainly not).

It should also be up to the relevant manager controlling council traffic management to ensure that all-important street furniture, lines and crossings are kept up to scratch by each and every council.

That is one pleasantly ‘grey’ area that seems to have escaped the eyes that should be open within Transport Malta. I am frankly fed up of reading, time and again, that armchair critics woes are the fault of the mass of road-users.

The Highway Code, (Part 1), The road, paragraph 1: The road is normally made up of a carriageway and one or two sidewalks (pavements). The carriageway is meant for vehicles and the sidewalks are meant for pedestrians. Outside built-up areas, pavements are generally replaced by hard shoulders usually demarcated by a continuous white line.

2. Carriageways and pavements are primarily intended for moving rather than stationary vehicles or pedestrians.

Stationary vehicles should not obstruct moving vehicles. Similarly, pedestrians should not obstruct pavements.

Paragraph 22 has this to say about crossing the road: First find a safe place to cross. It is safer to cross using a subway, a footbridge, an island, a zebra (pedestrian crossing) or pelican crossing (a crossing controlled by traffic lights), or where there is a crossing point controlled by a police officer, a school crossing patrol or a traffic warden. Otherwise choose a place where you can see clearly in all directions.

Parents should also bear in mind that children under 10 or 11 find it difficult to relate distance and speed, so it is most unwise to let youngsters out and about if they have to cross a road, especially a busy one.

Obviously, it is easy to blame the road- user for everything, likewise Transport Malta.

Pedestrians get hurt but they must also be responsible for their own actions.

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