Malta completely lacks the culture that drinking and driving do not go together. This is not a question of lack of education, or of people not taking notice of such advertising on TV or the press, it is purely a question of lack of police enforcement.
The laws are there, but who cares! If the police have the law at their disposal to allow them to stop drivers and carry out a spot check using breathalysers, and they do not enforce such a law, then what type of message are today’s generation getting? It is useless passing such laws in Parliament when we never see road blocks around Malta enforcing the fact that drinking and driving do not go together.
Do we have to wait for more fatal accidents before someone does something about it?
I plead with the new Commissioner of Police, who already has a tough task ahead of him in putting some sense of discipline into the police force, to set up patrol teams, using road blocks that encircle, every weekend at least, the entertainment areas in both Malta and Gozo to check drivers for the use of alcohol and drugs. This measure should also apply to the weekend village festas during the summer.
Heavy fines should be given, including the suspension of their driving licence, if the offenders are caught a second time. In some countries a prison sentence would be mandatory, irrespective of whether the offender is a famous actor, singer or politician.
Abroad there is often a points system that applies to drivers’ licences and the threat of losing one’s licence is very real.
Many fatal accidents could easily have been avoided in Malta if enforcement were carried out regularly, habitually and consistently.
Use road blocks that encircle the entertainment areas and check drivers for the use of alcohol and drugs
This constant enforcement would be solely aimed at instilling among the Maltese and Gozitans a culture that drinking and driving do not mix – a culture that makes people aware that, if one is to drive, he or she must not drink; a culture that would make one friend forbid the other from taking the wheel if he or she has been drinking.
I myself am a victim, albeit minor, of a crash caused by a driver who was completely under the influence of alcohol, but I will not say anymore as the case is still sub judice. The accident also happened during a festive period.
Recently I had dinner with a foreign friend of mine who was in Malta for a short period and hired a car. He told me at the start of dinner not to order a bottle of wine because he would only drink one glass at most, as he was driving back to his hotel.
The culture of not drinking and driving was instilled into him years back in his own country due to the risk of losing one’s driving licence.
It is not too difficult to instil the culture of not drinking and driving, in the same fashion that a few years back Malta introduced legislation making it obligatory to wear a seatbelt while driving, including for the front passenger. Both traffic police and wardens were on the lookout and this culture took less than a year to be imbued in us.
So what are we waiting for, another tragic loss of innocent life at such a tender age? Let us not forget that on October 1, 2005, again a weekend, five Qrendi boys lost their lives as they were heading back home, late at night, when their car went out of control.
This accident had shocked the nation. A speed camera was then put up on the same road, rather late. But let us not kid ourselves, as speed cameras do not detect alcohol or drugs, but road blocks do!
We all enjoy seeing police parades with precision drill shows but I am sure all parents would rather see road blocks constantly in place, making us all fully aware that the police force is there to enforce the law by adopting preventive measures rather than carrying out inquests after a fatal accident.
May I take this opportunity to express my deepest condolences to all the family and friends of the young lad whose life ended tragically in Gozo, with no direct fault of his own, but allegedly of an irresponsible driver now charged by the police with driving under the influence of alcohol.