Weird but true, every time I leave my office in Mrieħel, I am forced to break the law. Transport Malta have ‘very wisely’ deemed that exiting from our Mrieħel premises directly onto the bypass is too dangerous a manoeuvre so they put up ‘no exit’ signs, allowing, or rather forcing, me to use the service road that runs parrallel to the bypass (right).

Not such a bad idea in itself, had the service road been resurfaced first. I would be among the first to promote safety on our roads, and would not stand in the way of any attempt to make our roads safer.

However, the service road is in a state that renders it totally unusable, and even a Russian T-90 military tank would find it difficult to surmount the potholes and protruding rocks that emerge from the ground.

I seriously invite the person who ordered the ‘no exit’ signs to drive down to Mrieħel in his personal car and have a look for him/herself.

The service road is so Third World, so primitive, so crater-ridden, so dangerous in its own right, that on the couple of occasions I tried using it, besides scraping the bottom of my car all along, I ended up having to foot a bill of 800 to replace my punctured tyres.

It’s OK to keep the signs up, but please, without further adieu, send in the contractors to resurface the road, before I send TM the bills for my car repairs. And don’t forget, there are another 100 employees, besides suppliers and clients, who visit our premises on a regular basis and who have to use this ‘road’.

While on the topic of roads, I urge the Transport Ministry, the local councils and TM to work together on a nationwide programme to resurface our roads. Some roads and streets are not only an embarassment to the country but are outright dangerous to drive on. My hometown Swieqi is a case in point. I also urge insurances to put pressure on the government and the councils to ensure that our roads are pothole-free and maintained on a regular basis.

Is it time to privatise the maintenance of our roads or to get help from our Chinese new-found buddies, although Made in China is not always a solution?

With the stock of licensed motor vehicles at the end of March standing at 325,158, there are a lot of wheels out there. We demand action.

motoring@timesofmalta.com