Put a Brit behind the wheel and you have the perfect example of manners on the road. Some relatives from the UK were here on holiday earlier this month. Driving behind their hire car on the way to dinner one evening turned into a guilt trip. It made me realise how many bad habits I'd picked up since I passed my test.
For one thing, their constant use of the indicators was a sure sign that I probably don't use mine anywhere near enough. Hands placed on the wheel in the ten past ten position, ample space allowed for the car in front.
And these are people who commute for hours so boredom behind the wheel must kick in at some point, even though they drive spectacular cars down the M1.
We have a serious issue with courtesy and common sense on the road here. The morning school run last Tuesday was a case in point. Road works in two streets, one at a tangent from the other, clashed, and all access to the kindergarten was closed off. Most parents parked further away and walked.
Not so bright sparks. Barriers were promptly pushed aside, cars driven at speed kicking up clouds of dust as the rest of us hopped over trenches, three-year-olds in tow. One mum thought it would be clever to drive a new MPV down the school's narrow alley. She got stuck turning the corner, causing a few hundred euros' damage to the back flank. Then to add to the congestion, motorists stuck in a tailback on the main road blocked the exits from side roads. What does it cost to let other people through? Only in Malta is it possible to cause such utter chaos unnecessarily.
The authorities don't help either. There was only one warden standing by barriers at the top of a hill who could have made herself more useful directing frustrated parents to alternative routes.
Digging up a trench three weeks before the holidays was silly, although one street has been closed off for works for over a month. If the council had its thinking hat on, had a few more wardens on hand to help out, and people were a little more considerate, a nightmare could have been reduced to a nuisance.
For one thing, their constant use of the indicators was a sure sign that I probably don't use mine anywhere near enough. Hands placed on the wheel in the ten past ten position, ample space allowed for the car in front.
And these are people who commute for hours so boredom behind the wheel must kick in at some point, even though they drive spectacular cars down the M1.
We have a serious issue with courtesy and common sense on the road here. The morning school run last Tuesday was a case in point. Road works in two streets, one at a tangent from the other, clashed, and all access to the kindergarten was closed off. Most parents parked further away and walked.
Not so bright sparks. Barriers were promptly pushed aside, cars driven at speed kicking up clouds of dust as the rest of us hopped over trenches, three-year-olds in tow. One mum thought it would be clever to drive a new MPV down the school's narrow alley. She got stuck turning the corner, causing a few hundred euros' damage to the back flank. Then to add to the congestion, motorists stuck in a tailback on the main road blocked the exits from side roads. What does it cost to let other people through? Only in Malta is it possible to cause such utter chaos unnecessarily.
The authorities don't help either. There was only one warden standing by barriers at the top of a hill who could have made herself more useful directing frustrated parents to alternative routes.
Digging up a trench three weeks before the holidays was silly, although one street has been closed off for works for over a month. If the council had its thinking hat on, had a few more wardens on hand to help out, and people were a little more considerate, a nightmare could have been reduced to a nuisance.