It’s only recently that I discovered, in a motoring sense, the proliferation of dedicated local bus lanes. Some eight years ago, while visiting Bath and Cheltenham, I had reason to talk seriously about bendy buses – which were on the way out as they were all wearing battle scars because the roads were too narrow on the corners for them to be manoeuvred safely – and dedicated bus lanes.

Bus lanes were entirely absent and yet the number of buses was very high. The reason given in both towns was that a special bus lane would only be incorporated in three-lane highways as the traffic count was too high for a dedicated lane on normal double carriageway roads.

In Malta, with a much higher private vehicle count than either Bath or Cheltenham, our incredibly efficient, up-to-the-minute transport authority has decreed that bus lanes will be shoved willy-nilly on what seems to me to be a random basis.

Factually, unless people actually work within easy walking distance of a bus route I suggest that they continue to use their own vehicles as they at least stand a chance of getting to work on time, as long as one lane has not been swallowed up by buses.

Thousands of motorists drive slowly in the wrong lane

I recently had to rearrange things as a great friend had got himself stuck in Sicily as Virtu Ferries had a breakdown which ensured people waiting for five hours at Pozzallo being told to go away and not come back before Tuesday. Luckily, that bit of information was false, and by making a phone call on Sunday morning my friends got on a ferry Sunday afternoon.

The point of this anecdote is not to moan about a mechanical breakdown which can occur in anything, including ships and aeroplanes, but is to condemn most soundly Transport Malta for allowing Virtu Ferries a monopoly without a back-up vessel to take over when number one is, for whatever reason, not running.

This comes at a particularly pertinent moment as somewhere in the EU, someone has reasoned that there is a special road network called the Ten-T that continues at great EU expense into the Maltese islands and yet relies for one heck of a lot of lorries as well as cars and bikes on a monopoly ferry, which I’m reliably told, is the most expensive ferry, kilometre for kilometre, anywhere in the EU.

This is clearly not good enough and there are many, many motorists that have been chatted to that demand the lowering of fares as well as the scrapping of the local monopoly in line with today’s thinking.

• Is it possible that so many people drive badly and fail to signal their intentions to change direction because of what is commonly called road rage. Thousands of motorists drive slowly in the wrong lane, and to quote a true incident, one has to look at the diminutive female driving a large Mercedes so badly that when the opportunity should have been presented to overtake going up Tarġa Hill, Mosta, she straddled the broken centre line, making it impossible to overtake on either side.

The Highway Code, motorists’ little reference book, has this to say in paragraphs 167, 168 and 169, and while the reference book is not always covering a point of law the judiciary will pay great attention to people who ignore the written word:

“Keep well within the traffic lanes. Do not drive over or astride the white lines. Do not keep changing lanes. You must use the inner [i.e. left hand] lane except when overtaking or turning right. Signal in good time your intention to change lane after making sure it is safe to do so. Unless there is an emergency do not stop or park in the outside lane/s of a multi-lane carriageway for longer than is necessary unless you wish to turn to the right and to change to an inner lane would inhibit traffic wishing to continue straight ahead or turn left.”

The next paragraph, number 170, is a trifle contentious but luckily is not yet in use in Malta or Gozo. This covers the situation where a single carriageway is divided into three lanes: “Where the single carriageway is divided into three lanes, use the inner [i.e. left hand lane] except when overtaking or where there are signs or light signals directing you to use the centre lane. Do not overtake if the centre lane is already occupied by an oncoming vehicle.”

Paragraph 171 is common sense but all-important: “Remember you have no more right to use the middle lane than a driver coming from the opposite direction. Do not use the outer lane.”