I don’t know about politicians. Immediately before and after elections they’re pledging to keep their ears to the ground and their fingers on the nation’s pulse whilst simultaneously curing our ‘weggħat’ (ills and woes). This is politician-speak for “We’re going to try to talk about issues which affect citizens’ lives on a practical level”.

Obviously we’ve heard it all before but hope springs eternal in the human breast and a there will always be a few people who think that maybe this lot or that lot will get something done.

And then their bubble is burst when politicians come from left field with some observation or proposal which may be looked into but is not really high up on the country’s agenda. In this vein we get Labour’s Toni Abela taking up the cudgels for prostitutes and Simon Busuttil pledging to free us from the Hong Kong-like regime which has postponed local council elections.

And all the while, most citizens (including prostitutes and their prospective clients) are stuck in traffic wondering how local councils are making a jot of difference to their lives. I’m sure that most of them would trade the whole lot of local councils for less traffic – because that is one thing which is having a real and deleterious effect on people’s quality of life.

People in power don’t need any of those ridiculous consultation sessions at Castille or gatherings under a plastic wigwam in the villages to figure this one out.

The facts and figures speak for themselves. A transport policy paper published in 2001 forecast we would reach car saturation point by 2020. At the last count there were 320,000 registered vehicles in Malta and it seems they’re all on the road at the same time, making for near total gridlock at most times.

These last weeks have been particularly bad, with commuters stuck in traffic engaging in a blame game to identify the cause of the congestion of our roads. Childless drivers pointed fingers at parents who had driven their children to school themselves instead of leaving them to the mercy of coach drivers who pick up passengers at dawn to cram as many routes before the start of the school day.

It may have escaped the said childless drivers that they weren’t exactly contributing to the reduction of private vehicles on the roads, seeing they weren’t bussing it to work. Then there were commuters who blamed never-ending road works, the bus lanes and the ineffectual traffic direction by wardens – all justified.

Traffic congestion – like most of the country’s problems – arise from one main reason – the lack of enforcement of sound rules and policies

Blame game aside, the underlying reason for the mess is that there are too many cars in the road at one go. Even Finance Minister Edward Scicluna realised we’re well on the way to total gridlock and he made a nod to the idea of improving public transport. But then he resorted to that old favourite of politicians – improving the road network.

I don’t know how this is going to pan out. Because even if we have the most extensive traffic network ever with the smoothest tarmacked surfaces, we still have to solve the vexing problem of what happens when the cars come to a stop. What happens then, seeing that we have more cars than parking spaces?

Traffic congestion – like most of the country’s problems – arise from one main reason – the lack of enforcement of sound rules and policies. It may not be very evident but there are policy papers which advocate encouraging and incentivising the use of public transport.

We all know how that went. Austin Gatt’s botched public transport reform sounded the death knell for that option.

Commuters’ confidence in the system has nose-dived and never taken off since the Arriva debacle.

But there are other factors which have made the situation worse. Chief among these is the way Mepa has kept on dishing out permits for high-density buildings and tower blocks and high-rises with scant regard for the cumulative effect that they will have on traffic flow and parking availability.

Even though developers are supposed to make provisions for parking facilities, this is not always physically possible. In that case they have to pay a fee to the Commuted Parking Payment Scheme.

The funds gathered in this way are supposed to be used “for the construction of car parks as well as for the provision of local public transport systems and infrastructure of ancillary facilities”. Any sign of those car parks? Or greatly improved public transport systems? No. So where are the millions of euros paid up into the CPPS going?

This is just another manifestation of the ineffective implementation of policy which is leading to further congestion. Earlier this week Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alistair Campbell said Malta needed to project an image, a brand to the rest of the world – with which the country would automatically be associated.

At this rate Malta will soon be known as Gridlock Island.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt