A magistrate complained about lax supervision of traffic in Gozo today before fining a man €4000 for having involuntarily caused the death of a pedestrian in Gozo in January 2010.

Vegetable vendor Joseph Schembri was fined for causing the death of his friend, pedestrian Salvatore Galea in Pope John Paul II Street in Victoria. It resulted during the court hearings that Mr Schembri never saw Mr Galea walking on the side of the road and did not apply the brakes of the truck he was driving.

At the time the pedestrian needed to walk into the road because of an obstruction – a boat had been placed there.

The court found that had the driver kept a proper lookout, he would have seen the pedestrian and the accident could have been avoided.

The driver had denied carelessness, saying the victim suddenly emerged on the road and he had no time to react.

The court found him guilty of causing the involuntary death through negligence and fined him €4,000. He was also disqualified from driving for three months. Damages had already been paid.

In his observations, Magistrate Joe Mifsud said the court was concerned about the number of traffic accidents in Gozo.

The court feels that control and supervision of traffic is so poor that it is ineffective, other than what the traffic police do with much dedication and efficiency

“The court feels that control and supervision of traffic is so poor that it is ineffective, other than what the traffic police do with much dedication and efficiency,” Magistrate Mifsud said.

He said the court was fed up of seeing car races on the roads between Gharb and San Lawrenz; in Pope John Paul Street, Victoria and in Mgarr Road between Ghajnsielem and Xewkija.

It was about time that Transport Malta introduced traffic calming measures to avoid further tragedies.

Furthermore, the wardens should not be there solely to fine drivers who exceeded the time in times parking zones. They rarely fined anyone for ignoring stop signs, even though that happened all the time, the court said.

Furthermore, it had become common to see people driving while using their mobile phone.

There were also repeated abuses at traffic lights as well as drink-driving.

The court said it had also seen minors driving.