Increasing traffic fines would not help improve the situation on the roads unless drivers were better educated, traffic experts said at a seminar organised by the German-Maltese Business Council on the future of traffic in Malta yesterday.

Sociologist Mario Vassallo said issuing hefty fines was useless if drivers were not properly educated.

“Wardens, police and the Transport Authority only issue fines. They do not educate. I disagree with the idea where we punish, punish, punish,” Prof. Vassallo said.

In doing so, those unable to pay would be affected, but nothing much would be done to improve the overall problem of traffic, he said. Instead, the focus should be on improving infrastructural problems, such as confusing speed limits, interrupted bus lanes and the lack of a “standardised marking system”.

“We need to think of solutions that actually work. Let’s start by making public transport fast, safe and cheap… and then address other issues,” Prof. Vassallo said.

He also pointed out that the localities needed to be better developed so that people did not have to constantly travel around the island.

Nobody stays in one place anymore. Everyone is travelling from one place to another, and that is causing a lot of congestion. We need to go back to spending more time in one place

“Nobody stays in one place anymore. Everyone is travelling from one place to another, and that is causing a lot of congestion. We need to go back to spending more time in one place,” Prof. Vassallo went on.

Echoing similar concerns, Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development director Maria Attard, who was also at the seminar held at the Malta Chamber of Commerce, called for more people to get involved with tackling traffic issues.

“We need to identify opportunities for future generations and not simply by building new roads, but by identifying more sustainable measures,” Prof. Attard said. To do so, decisions on transport should not be taken in isolation, she said, but be given importance by entities from various sectors.

“Traffic activities need to be better planned, and for that to happen, you cannot have just the Transport Ministry, for instance, working on things but other ministries, too,” she said.

Prof. Attard also warned against complacency, which she said often tended to take over in such situations, and called for decision makers to avoid resorting to piecemeal efforts which “clearly do not work”.

claire.caruana@timesofmalta.com