The Malta Transport Authority said the aim of parking control in residential streets was to manage limited on-street parking among different users when demand for parking exceeded the supply. A road qualifies for a residential parking scheme if the demand for parking exceeds the supply by 70 per cent.

Street parking as a rule is to accommodate business parking zones, garages, special reserved bays, pedestrian crossings, parking bays, bus stops and no parking spaces. This combination in certain localities will occupy all available parking spaces!

On top of this, there's the daily organised traffic confusion due to construction work on open-ended schedules or roads closed for hours on end to accommodate loading or unloading of building material. The chaos created by the waste collection trucks or the gas delivery agent will exasperate even those with the most placid disposition!

However, are all the reserved spaces justified? For instance, the loading/unloading time frames should be relative to the business activity. It is unreasonable to reserve a space for seven hours a day, six days a week! On the other hand, it is selfish and unreasonable for adjacent business premises to each have a reserved front space.

Another bright idea is that in some localities yellow lines incorporate the garages and adjacent houses, which transform the whole street into a no-parking zone. While garages that are utilised as stores or workshops, and were never used to park a car, are privileged with a no-parking constraint. The cherry on the cake are yellow lines extending by one metre on each side of the garage, allowing the owner extra-extra large space!

Therefore, to reduce abuse and free up precious parking space, parking permit requests must be scrutinised for validity by the local councils and periodically checked to authenticate proper use. In addition, the council should catalogue all the garage permits and check that those that are violating the permit regulation will not be entitled to a no-parking concession.

Therefore, if our enthusiastic traffic custodians would eradicate favouritism and ensure that the law is equal to all, then the exasperated drivers should find more parking spaces and pay fewer fines for illegal parking. Although this might not be of good news to the warden keepers, the local councils will earn the respect of the community.

And business activity will benefit through efficient organised parking as it saves the customer's time in search of the elusive parking slot! In addition, those so diligently concerned about our needs will avoid sleepless nights in search of solutions to our daily frustration!