For the past year, the patience of motorists has been severely tested by the hazardous challenges of driving on roads that are generally inadequate for the over 332,000 vehicles licensed to use them and also by disruptive improvement projects that seem to take forever to be completed. Both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have declared that the gridlock problem is one of the major problems that need to be addressed in the coming months.

However, while there may be political will to address the problem, so far there is little evidence of the sense of urgency that is so badly needed to move from words to action. The reasons behind the chaotic traffic management system are various.

Lack of sufficient investment in good quality roads is just one of them. Many drivers who use the roads on a daily basis argue that lack of common sense is possibly a worse cause of traffic mayhem. The Msida junction project offers various examples of bad management practices that should have been avoided to save needless frustration for thousands of drivers.

Starting with safety considerations, one is more than justified in asking why enormous concrete and stone blocks were used to cordon off parts of the area where works were being undertaken by the contractors. No wonder traffic experts described the use of these barriers as “accidents waiting to happen”.

The Msida project seems to be taking much longer to be completed than should be necessary. Why are works not undertaken more intensely throughout the day and night on every day of the week to complete the job as early as possible? What will happen in the remaining two months of this project if weather conditions deteriorate and Msida is flooded, as it usually is during the wetter months?

Frustrated drivers ask even more pertinent questions. Why are slow-moving vehicles allowed to use traffic arteries, some of which have single lanes, at all times of the day? These vehicles are usually heavy construction equipment like cranes, trucks and concrete mixers plying between one construction site and another. In some places, horse-drawn cabs and carts are frequently seen using busy roads even during peak traffic hours. Wouldn’t it be more sensible to restrict the use of such means of transport to certain times of the day when people are not normally travelling to and from work?

People will not trust public transport until it is proven that this indeed can save you the hassle and expense of driving to complete the list of errands that most people have to undertake as part of their daily lives. Shopping, commuting to work, transporting children to school and private lessons, visiting relatives or patients in hospital, going to the gym or for a meal in a restaurant are some of the reasons most drivers use their cars. It seems that years after the introduction of public transport reforms few people consider using public transport for such everyday errands.

The use of modern technology to build underground roads to ease traffic congestion in heavily built-up areas may soon become an expensive but inevitable option.

Road-weary drivers need some respite. They demand more safety on the roads, cleaner air and more efficient traffic management systems to improve the quality of their lives. Regrettably, so far, there has been little evidence that these priorities are being treated with the urgency they deserve.

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