Almost 500 EU-registered vehicles were caught exceeding the speed limit in just two months, but the authorities would not say whether owners were fined despite their details being available.
Official data tabled in Parliament a few weeks ago by Transport Minister Joe Mizzi shows that between August and September last year, 488 EU-registered vehicles were involved in traffic contraventions. Transport Malta was able to trace the owners thanks to an EU-wide database system that became accessible in August 2016, Mr Mizzi said when replying to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Ċensu Galea.
However, no details were given on whether the cases were followed-up and whether the owners were fined prior to leaving Malta or through the traffic watchdogs in the defaulting owners’ countries of origin.
Contacted by the Times of Malta, a Transport Malta spokesman noted that Italian motorists topped the list with 445 contraventions, followed by 11 from Germany and nine from other EU member states. It was not explained why this figure did not tally with the one given in Parliament (488). All the 465 cases mentioned by Transport Malta dealt with speeding.
Asked whether the motorists in question were fined, the spokesman referred this newspaper to the Local Enforcement System Agency, which, in turn, invited us to the Justice Ministry. Despite, several reminders, no replies had been received to the questions sent to the ministry at the time of writing.
Enforcement of traffic contraventions involving foreign-registered cars has long been a major issue not in tracing the owners.
EU Directive 2015/413, which enabled the national authorities to share their data, was meant to address the problem, at least for EU-registered vehicles.
The directive applies to drink-driving, failure to use a seatbelt or not stopping at a red traffic light. It does not apply to illegal parking.
Prior to the introduction of the directive, this newspaper had reported that up to a quarter of offences caught on speed cameras were going unpunished because they were foreign-registered.
The problem had been accentuated with the increase in the number of vehicles entering Malta by sea from Sicily and, to a lesser extent, from Libya following the political unrest of 2011.
While owners of EU-registered cars are now being traced, the authorities are still powerless to crack down on third country motorists who are very often accused of acting with impunity.