Every Sunday afternoon on approaching the roundabout intersection along Triq il-Marfa near the Seabank Hotel one finds the road to Mellieħa blocked, with two wardens indicating that the only way out is through Triq Tal-Prajjet past Popeye’s Village.

Like everyone else, on April 22 I proceeded along this road when suddenly traffic came to a halt. The road is long and narrow and one was not able to see why the traffic was not moving. Tempers started rising as one could not go anywhere.

I sat in the car for a good 45 minutes before the drivers of the cars in front of me started to indicate that we had to reverse so that we would reach the entrance to an unsurfaced road which could be used to get us out of this horrendous situation. A coach had broken down and was blocking the rest of the traffic.

It was at this point that I asked myself how an ambulance or any other emergency vehicle would have reached its destination had an emergency happened. I wish to ask those responsible for rerouting traffic if they ever think of such incidents?

While on the subject of narrow roads, can I also ask why our roads are being redesigned to allow only single lane traffic? Not forgetting also our famous Sunday drivers who seem to think they own the road and those who have no idea about the minimum speed limits.

One is already able to see that Triq il-Marfa is being redesigned to allow single lane traffic on both sides. The carriageways are separated by a concrete centre strip which makes it impossible for traffic to go past a vehicle that has had a breakdown and is blocking the road access. Instead of leaving the road with two carriageways, the pavement on both sides of the road has been widened unnecessarily. Was such a wide pavement needed?