Just 14 boat drivers have been found guilty of speeding at sea over two years, with 54 acquitted after being charged, The Times has learnt.
The statistics support the theory that enforcement officers – who work without speed guns – are failing to collect enough evidence to secure convictions.
The poor conviction rate could also be discouraging those policing the seas as evidenced by the fact that only 12 charges were issued this year by the end of August. This translates to a drop of 88 per cent compared to last year.
According to police figures, 24 people were charged for speeding in Malta in 2010. Of these, nine were convicted, 14 were acquitted and one was withdrawn.
A year later, when Transport Malta had claimed a huge surge in prosecutions, 79 people were charged for speeding. But the conviction rate in the 45 cases heard so far stands at just 11 per cent.
Forty people charged were acquitted, four were fined and one received a conditional discharge. The other 34 cases remain pending.
An additional nine and 26 people were charged in Gozo in 2010 and 2011 respectively, the police said, but no information was supplied regarding the outcome of these cases at the time of writing.
The Times questioned Transport Malta last month about how it enforces the law on speeding at sea after snorkeller Charles Brignone was killed by a boat’s propeller.
The regulator said 12 charges for speeding had been issued in 2010 and 76 in 2011 but police corrected the figures, saying the original figures “probably” did not include the charges issued by the administrative law enforcement officers.
The job of enforcing sea laws is shared by the police, the Armed Forces of Malta, the Fisheries Department within the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Transport Malta.
Transport Malta was also asked about the tools and resources used to gather evidence.
A spokesman confirmed that mobile speed cameras were not used but said its “professional personnel” were responsible for a “considerable number” of prosecutions on the basis of evidence obtained.
The transport watchdog did not make any reference to the way prosecutions are failing to translate into convictions. The spokesman also refused to elaborate on investigation techniques used, fearing that this would damage their prosecution prospects.
“The authorities use various means and tactics to measure speed, however, due to prosecution purposes, it is not deemed fit to divulge such information here,” the spokesman said, adding only that the authorities were focusing “more on restricted areas to further eliminate doubt”.