In 1998, the Traffic Control Board was concerned that the volume of traffic on the Coast Road after the Naxxar traffic joined the fray was such that a board member, a much respected person in the current Traffic Management Department, suggested that traffic should be forbidden from turning right into, or coming out of Kennedy Drive towards Qawra.
When, if ever, will Transport Malta sort out its well-known traffic management problems?- Hugh Arnett
At the time, the board turned the suggestion down. There have unfortunately been nasty accidents, including death at this spot ever since, on a more than regular basis. Often they are merely the usual and sadly acceptable front-to-back careless incidents. However, recently a driver misjudged the right turn and there was a horrific incident where the approaching car, on his correct side, was flipped over by the transgressor.
The general feeling among those who use the road regularly is that, because at some time in the future this whole area will be replanned, it must be OK for Transport Malta to ‘dodge the bullets’ and do absolutely nothing to make the turn safer for even the most inexperienced among us.
If this junction were to be made Left Turn Only it would not only become far, far safer but the totally unacceptable build-up of traffic on the main road because of someone wishing to turn right would be avoided.
Qawra traffic would either use the traffic lights at the end of Pioneer Road, or circle the roundabout and enter the Qawra roads by using the other traffic lights, and if necessary, turn left into Kennedy Drive. Now that the traffic lights have been reset to allow a decent time interval these three access points are entirely suitable.
Another season has gone by without our esteemed Transport Malta tackling the problem of how to get traffic into and out of the Naxxar Road onto, or off, the Coast Road. It had become obvious by 1999 that action had to be taken, and the Traffic Control Board approved the use of temporary traffic lights to be activated over the weekends as traffic built up.
The then Roads Department flexed its muscles and refused the traffic lights, insisting instead that it would construct a roundabout. That was fully designed but never implemented. This is, of course, just as well as the volume of traffic using the road from Naxxar is incredible, and as all vehicles have to give way to traffic on the right at roundabouts, the ever busy Coast Road traffic would have total priority at certain times when few vehicles wish to turn from the Coast Road towards Naxxar.
Obviously, we would then find ourselves in the same position as the UK where they had to place temporary traffic lights on various roundabouts, which simply could not cope with the traffic flow on the major roads at busy times. Vehicles on the minor junctions simply could not get onto the roundabout. We would then have built a roundabout that would still have to be helped with temporary traffic lights.
In the same way it’s only Transport Malta that assumes that because there are reminder signs on the Kappara roundabout this junction works better without the traffic lights installed by Transport Research Laboratory, the advisors to the British government.
Especially during rush hour, traffic using Sliema Road barges willy-nilly onto the roundabout as no one willingly using the main road gives way, quite rightly as it is a roundabout.
Removing the traffic lights, which surely gave people on Sliema Road a fair chance of entering the roundabout, was, in my opinion, a disaster, and if anyone from Transport Malta would be brave enough to sit in the passenger seat of my classic Mini, I would happily show him or her just how scary this roundabout can be.
Of course, Birkirkara has the same problem where the roundabout at the end of the bypass is generally used on some of its arms on a first-come-first-served horror experience. When, if ever, will Transport Malta sort out its extremely well-known traffic management problems?
In my opinion the Highway Code, which was compiled in 1999, is way beyond its sell-by date. Will someone in Transport Malta please organise a revised issue, now?
Seldom, if ever, have I been known to write about the Arriva bus service, partly because in our traffic-congested roads it seems unfair to criticise these drivers when they arrive many minutes late.
However, someone must explain why these buses can be seen at well above their 60kph limit when the road is clear, and why so many bear scars beyond the call of duty. Or why every time I venture on a decent 30-plus-kilometre journey I find an Arriva bus stuck at the roadside.