Transport Minister Joe Mizzi has directed Transport Malta to compile a road safety strategy that would be the basis for a road safety council.

Mr Mizzi announced this action in a rather heated House Social Affairs Committee direction during Wednesday’s meeting, which discussed Nationalist MP Toni Bezzina’s report on traffic accidents and gridlock.

The report was tabled in the name of the Opposition to discuss road safety.

At times, committee chair Deborah Schembri suspended the audio streaming system due to bickering between Opposition members and the minister.

Mr Bezzina said Transport Malta was responsible for road network and safety.

The recent Tal-Barrani fatal accident was due to non-working traffic lights.

Mr Mizzi said the traffic lights situation was precarious since many were old and spare parts unavailable. Some were being cannibalised to service lights in more crucial areas.

New systems required a lengthy tendering process.

Moreover, he alleged the tender was “tailor-made for someone”. Currently, “what can be done is being done... but the situation cannot be changed overnight”.

Mr Mizzi announced the Transport Malta report was to include road uses and accidents by date, time and type.

He said short-term and long-term decisions would need to be taken, including dealing with horses on roads and co-ordination with the police.

Mr Mizzi said the lights at Tal-Barrani had had intermittent faults for months.

Dr Etienne Grech (PL) said that the initiative to erect “Speed Kills” notices were a good initiative.

He said that when a traffic accident happens during rush hour at Marsa, the whole south is blocked and asked if there was some speedy way to resolve the issue.

Mr Mizzi said that when the accident involves a horse, only a vet can touch the animal and the government vet is precluded from attending. He said the issue of horses on the road was being discussed.

The issue of bottlenecks is also being addressed.

Marsa, he said, clogs the south and a contingency plan for the gridlock is currently being studied.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.