Advert

Drivers hit with fines of €6.7m

Motorists forked out about €6.7 million in traffic fines last year, official statistics show.

Wardens were the busiest, having handed out 139,448 fines to the tune of €3.3m.

The police booked 83,909 people who paid out €2.2m.

Speed cameras flashed 27,509 times and roped in €1.1m from the pockets of disgruntled motorists caught pressing the accelerator excessively.

The figures emerged from the Transport Statistics 2012 report released by the National Statistic Office yesterday.

It transpires that both the police and wardens issued most of their fines for the same offences: illegal parking, running a red light, irreg-ular overtaking and lic-ence irregularities.

Traffic police were busiest in St Julian’s, Paola and Sliema while wardens dished out the fines mostly in Floriana, St Paul’s Bay and Valletta.

The bulk of the motorists caught by speed cameras exceeded the limit by over 15 kilometres an hour and most offences were carried out on Notary Zarb Road in Attard, Dun Karm Street in Birkirkara and the Regional Road in St Julian’s.

The NSO report also showed that, last year, the number of passenger cars on the road totalled 342,881, the vast majority, 77 per cent, being over 10 years old. Most of the cars, 255,136, had petrol engines, 83,515 used diesel and 294 had “alternative power sources”.

A total of 136,874 vehicle roadworthiness tests were carried out last year and 81 per cent passed. About 24,746 vehicles were re-tested with the majority passing the second time round. By the end of 2011, the total number of driving licences reached 229,867, with 139,473 belonging to male drivers. A total of 32.8 million commuters used public transport.

Advert

74 Comments

Post comment

Please see our new Comments Policy

Comments are submitted under the express understanding and condition that the editor may, and is authorised to, disclose any/all of the above personal information to any person or entity requesting the information for the purposes of legal action on grounds that such person or entity is aggrieved by any comment so submitted.

At this time your comment will not be displayed immediately upon posting. Please allow some time for your comment to be moderated before it is displayed.

For more details please see our Comments Policy

Your User Profile is incomplete.
Please click here to complete your profile before posting comments.

roberto bordino

Sep 9th 2012, 08:25

Everything you say is so right. but could you also add the one that really bothers me when I frequently see it..Children and babies not in car seats or belted up!!

Robert Mizzi

Sep 9th 2012, 10:27

@Roberto Bordino. That is one that I should have included of course, but I have myself covered by the etc.etc. :)) Yes, I absolutely fail to comprehend parents allowing children to stand up in between seats while driving. Add to that children with their heads (or half their bodies) out of the window enjoying the breeze. As A. Bronson Alcott said, "To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of ignorance."

Gordon Borg

Sep 8th 2012, 21:55

Wisq probabbli li il warden li kien ha jaghtik citazzjoni kien ipparkjat hazin huwa stess.Kieku mort ticcekkja il karozza tieghu 99% kien tkun jew fuq xi yellow line jew quddiem xi garage.

Jay Oatmon

Sep 9th 2012, 09:13

I think the police in Malta never enforce the law, except when specifically instructed to do so.

We all know enforcement is a joke in Malta there are all the laws you need but minimal enforcement so it is a case of what you can get away with except for speeding where they make money and the camera does the work.

G G Debono

Sep 8th 2012, 17:45

Sadly , Speed cameras are simply money-making spreed traps - the point is not safety but MONEY !

C Cassar

Sep 8th 2012, 18:25

Why should they be removed? If you're within the speed limit as you should be, they're harmless. If you exceed the speed limit which is breaking the law, you get fined. Makes total sense and very simple to understand.

mark borg

Sep 8th 2012, 19:17

kemm thobbu l-austin ..ghidilna naqra xi rigali akkwistajt minghand l-onorevoli Arriva .

S. Vella

Sep 9th 2012, 01:13

@C. Cassar

The 60km/h speed limit in Regional Road is ridiculous. That is an 80km/hr road.

@Mark Borg

Typical Labour mentality - trid takkwista xi haga biex tfahhar Ministru.

Gordon Borg

Sep 8th 2012, 21:58

insejt iz zied li sied taz zwiemel bil kerettuni,minfuq iharsulek bl ikrah tisthajjilhom qed jghidulek tergax idoqq ghax daqqa ta frosta tiehu

Mr Tony Gatt

Sep 8th 2012, 16:51

Don't you have to pay ARMS for the electricity when you use them?

B Attard

Sep 8th 2012, 16:54

Ghax jippreferu jwahhlu citazzjoni ma karozza wieqfa flokk jidhlu f'hassle dirett meta jwaqqfu persuna

B Attard

Sep 8th 2012, 13:38

Kumment tajjeb hafna. din ta' citazzjoni bil-posta ma nnizziliex suppost kien hemm xi direttiva li s-sewwieq ghandu jitwaqqaf; hekk baqghu sejrin l-abbuzi.
Fil-bidu tas-sena qlajt citazzjoni ngusta Rahal Gdid. Meta tlajt tribunal armata sa snieni bil-provi kontra l-warden, hekk kif dhalt fl-awla il-magistrata staqsitni ismi u minnufih qaltli Libertata Liberata ghax ma wasluliex il-karti.....biex tkompli tahraqni.

Dione Pace

Sep 8th 2012, 14:43

Naqbel perfettament!

C Sant

Sep 8th 2012, 15:45

Simple letter, a couple of cents worth of stamps! Most of these petitions are accepted by the petitions board.

Jonathan Saliba

Sep 8th 2012, 15:48

Don't blame the wardens if you can't be bothered to learn the traffic regulations. There are plenty of ways that you can educate yourself.

Emmanuel Ebejer

Sep 8th 2012, 17:16

@Jonathan Saliba
You missed the point; these people in uniform should be honourable enough to face the public! With regards to traffic regulations, I assure you that I know them very well. However it would never cross my mind to think I'm perfect!

Wilfred Galea

Sep 8th 2012, 13:17

Who cares about reckless driving. Have you ever seen a reckless driver being booked (go to Bugibba promenade any evening and many other places and you will see loads of them!!) I think most tickets are given to parked cars.!!

Mr raynond ciancio

Sep 8th 2012, 14:04

i disagree with you, i think that they have to change their tactics instead of improving them, instead of wasting their time in giving fines for the likes of having a dirty car, or for leaving your window open when you jut pop in to buy a packet of fags, or for example like in my case recieving a fine for improper parking in paceville while my car was at the mechanics in fgura without a gearbox and waiting for parts for a busted gearbox, they should be going for the serious offenders that are causing these serious accidents, i personally think they are looking for the easy, money making fines like the ones i just mentioned, rather than be bothered with preventing such accidents, i pass the coast road three times a week late at night, and the amount of dangerous stupidities i see on this roads are unbelievable, but never a warden or a cop, i suppose its not financially viable for them to stay there all night to catch the one dangerous offender that might cause a life, when they can make a lot more and look better in front of their superiors, just waiting outside a tunnel during the day to catch those that forgot to switch on their lights.

A Camilleri

Sep 8th 2012, 13:49

I beg to disagree. Typical Maltese approach to transgression. We always find n excuse to get away with murder. Wardens are not there to educate. No sir. If one is not educated in driving, if the driver does not know the law 100% then sorry, he or she should not even be behind the wheel. Wardens and police are there to enforce YES ENFORCE driving laws and regulations. We do not like enforcement. It has becomes a common excuse to us Maltese to plead ignorance and the need to be educated in order to avoid paying up when at fault. Ahfirli w ma nergax. However the same transgression will be committed next time round by the same driver if he can get away with it and no warden is looking to book him. That's why we ave all this chaos as unlike our northern bothers Germans Finns etc we LACK discipline and when we are caught instead of accepting our fault and pay or it and next time try to be disciplined we cry and go running to politicians to sanction our misbehaviour. That's why we will always remain a Pajjiz tat- tielet dinja. We never learn.

GL Calleja

Sep 8th 2012, 12:57

You could after you pay the fine....Anbd we thought the Wardens were worthless?

E. De Marco

Sep 8th 2012, 15:19

St.Paul's bypass is actually a racing track. One can hear the cars very loud & clear, especially from St.George's Street, the best race taking place on Sundays. To be fair, calling the police in Qawra sometimes solves the problem, but alas they cannot be omnipresent, 24X7. Suspend their license for a couple of months, I say, after giving them a severe warning the first time...because they are a danger to other law-abiding drivers.

C Cassar

Sep 8th 2012, 18:22

There should be at least 3 speed cameras installed on each side of the length of the St Paul's Bay bypass. A very simple solution to keep people within the specified speed limits.

D. A . Agius

Sep 8th 2012, 10:29

I guess it's more interested in reducing cars off the road.

Robert Zammit

Sep 8th 2012, 12:39

Well say Mr Alfred Grima but Sliema this nightmare than St Paul.....

Matt Brincat

Sep 8th 2012, 19:16

May I also add boat owners most particularly near the 'Malta young sailors club' leaving their boat carriage towed while the vehicle is parked, therefore obstructing two parking places. these people are never fined and us locals keep searching for a parking because of these people.

Another thing is the lack of parking squares or motorcycles parked in car spaces while the MC square is empty, you will get booked if you park too close of an MC square

Gordon Cook

Sep 8th 2012, 11:55

I think that knowledge of hand signals is very low priority.

Maltese drivers are very good at hand signals! It's just that none of them appear in the highway code.

stephen koludrovic

Sep 8th 2012, 12:24

The middle finger is the universal sign undertood by all, and should be in the highway code!!

paul camilleri

Sep 8th 2012, 12:52

@Mr Cook

although you are refering to vulgar hand signals sir, i suggest you should also brush up on your road hand signals, maybe for you these are of low priority, but tell me how many times did you stop on a zebra crossing and the car comming in the opposite direction carried on driving simply because they did not pay attention and or did not notice that the car on the other side has stopped to let people cross the road?

or maybe you came accross a car that indicates they are turnning left and just pulls over on the side of the road even in most cases double parking and blocking your view from pulling out to pass. how helpfull would a hand waving in circular motion would help you to pull out onto the other lane.
yes Mr Cook hand signals are still ecential in driving least of all because your cars lights may fail to work!!!!

paul camilleri

Sep 8th 2012, 13:30

@Mr Koludrovic

Sir maybe you are one of those unfortunates mentioned in the above statistics perhaps maybe 25 times over?
it is more fitting that you should have your licence suspended indefinatly rather than having your vulgar sugestions written in a book.

Mr Tony Gatt

Sep 9th 2012, 07:02

@ Stephen Koludrovic
It is usually accompanied by the word "rotate" in England!

Advert
Advert