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The standard of driving observed on dual carriageways and on the approach to many junctions has, in the 54 years I've been driving, never been worse.

The motoring population appears to be made up of the 'oblivious mass'.

As a former driving examiner - partly out of anxiety at the thought of being driven into something unpleasant and, partly, with a select band of instructors, because I was aware that their students would only be put in for the exam when considered ready - I did my best to relax the examinee as much as possible to reduce the obvious nervous tension inherent when driving a stranger round a test route, in order that I would see the best the driver could do.

Obviously, with certain well-known instructors, no matter what relaxation techniques were involved there wasn't a bat's chance in hell of the student driver being up to scratch until they had failed three or more times.

Sadly, however, some examiners were so intimidating, seemingly unable to get the best out of the driver, that their result sheets always saw a far higher percentage of drivers failing than would seem either normal or desirable.

My passes were all able to read the road ahead and be observant of the road behind at all times. My party piece was covering the inside mirror and asking them, without cheating, what the colour of the following car was. They could all negotiate the approach to and exit from a roundabout correctly, would always drive on the left and overtake on the right, and would, of course, approach junctions strictly in accordance with road signs and carriageway markings at the correct speed, because no matter what, the examiner always has to fail a student driver if the law is being broken.

Seemingly, once the test has been passed, notwithstanding the probationary period of some years, most drivers seem to enjoy driving in the wrong lane, and at the wrong speed. They obviously don't care much for anyone else on the road, and the more ill-mannered they become, the cleverer it would appear to be.

An interesting letter appeared recently on the subject of police and wardens not booking all drivers observed driving incorrectly. That would, at first glance, appear to be a great deterrent, except for the fact that it is only right and proper that drivers committing the offence, unless seen on camera, must be stopped and issued with a contravention with an explanation of what they are doing wrong.

In my early years, the police in England worked in pairs, the first giving a signal to the second sited a reasonable distance further on, so that he could pull over the offender in safety. It worked, and would work still.

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From time to time, the previous mayor of St Paul's Bay used my expertise in traffic signage and carriageway markings to plot out various changes in the town.

The new mayor is an architect with the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) and yet either she, or the Director Traffic Management, has disregarded the fact that a red circular sign with a white centre means 'No entry from either end'.

Where Ras Il-Qawra joins Triq It-Trunciera near Qawra Point, there is such a sign, with a recently painted 'Stop' line. Yet there is no sign, no pun intended, indicating 'No right turn' in Triq Is-Sallur, nor is there a 'No entry from either end' sign at the junction of Triq Is-Sallur with Ras Il-Qawra.

Attention to detail is all-important in traffic management, and that includes all councils going through the correct channels and pestering the Director Traffic Management with every request that legally has to be read by, and then approved or rejected, by the relevant director.

There are so many silly bits of street furniture, inappropriate road humps and badly placed pedestrian facilities because council secretaries and mayors cannot get on with ADT staff.

They consequently inaugurate things for themselves, safe in the knowledge that there are far too few traffic management personnel loose within the ADT to find them out when councils act for themselves.

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