Much is being written regarding the location of a particular pedestrian crossing on the border of Valletta and Floriana, which brings back a matter I had previously written about.

I’m referring to the traffic lights that diagonally cross St Anne Street, Floriana just before the lion fountain. It is a known fact the drivers using the Go offices, Transport Malta Licencing Offices, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, SPCA, the driving licence testing area and others coming from the Menqa direction, all face this intersection repeatedly on a daily basis. However, if needing to travel to Floriana or to Valletta, one has to go all the way to Marsa, beyond Spenser’s Monument, just to return to Floriana and further to Valletta; a distance of just under a kilometre!

This also involves getting held in at least four traffic lights along the way. Otherwise, you can travel via Pietà and up San Maison, but I don’t need to explain how more complicated and fuel-consuming this road can be.

Many cannot understand why it isn’t possible to simply cross these few metres of St Anne Street at these traffic lights, which is reserved only for public transport. Aren’t these lights timed just like any other lights with ample pre-warning? Why are cars coming from the mentioned area subjected to travel this longer distance, when vehicular emissions, fuel wastage, traffic congestion and other such matters are on the top of many agendas?

This isn’t an exercise of traffic calming or management, nor which lessens vehicular traffic into Valletta but a decision that was intended for cyclists and the early stage of Park and Ride and which has now diminished to the sole use of Arriva buses.

But in this country, no one seems to accept constructive criticism or listen to reason by those who experience these hardships every day.