No one can deny the fact that these islands' traffic situation has reached critical and alarming proportions! Parking is the present topic. Sliema has put everybody up in arms! The acute parking situation is leading to irrational decisions being taken.

Is it not time that a serious study is made on how to find more parking slots? Where streets are wide enough, angled parking against pavements should be introduced.

Create more one-way streets to make side parking more possible. If a garage owner goes out to work all day, arrangements should be made that the space in front of his/her garage is made available to anyone who is within a five-minute telephone call away in case of an emergency. Telephone number to be left on the windscreen and the person is prepared to refund the telephone call.

A personal relationship could be developed between a person who lives in Mosta but works in Valletta, and the person who has a nearby office or shop in Mosta next to this person's garage.

The use of one car by colleagues to go to work would help immensely to lessen the need for parking spaces. It could be taken on weekly turns whose car is used. Just think of the saving on fuel and wear and tear of cars, not to mention less pollution! One would only have to use one's own car every four to five weeks to go to work!

What about the madness of the hundreds of kilometres of yellow lines, be they double or single, along all our streets! Can we afford such waste of precious road space? You see yellow lines in remote streets and lanes that hardly see any traffic. On a one-way street where a car can only turn on one side to enter or leave that road, why make allowance of a whole car space with a double yellow line on both corners?

With some thought and good will, the traffic challenge can be addressed and somewhat remedied.

The situation has now gone far beyond making it difficult to park in order that fining becomes easier and more money is collected. We are now in dire straits. Our health is being affected and road rage is on the increase!