A couple of months ago I highlighted an incident in which Michelle Cachia Arnett, my granddaughter, was struck by a builders' van, which she and her mother allege didn't stop at a stop line and hence drove straight into Michelle's Land Rover.
Elmo Insurance were thoroughly put out by my presumption in quoting Vehicle Regulations and the Highway Code to make the point about stopping all four wheels with the front wheels behind the single stop line, and not moving off until safe to do so.
As things go over here, where the paucity of properly trained law enforcement officers is reminiscent of a drought in Southern Sudan, photographs taken by a warden only showed half the story. They totally failed to show the direction that the Land Rover had been taking along the top of the 'T' junction and gave a thoroughly unrealistic view of the problem site.
For your further interest, and this really applies not only to the many motorists who have enquired after Michelle's fate, but to the thousands who feel hard-done by in incident situations, Elmo kindly invited Michelle to go to arbitration before Dr Joe Micallef Stafrace.
This she was glad to agree to and the saga will be concluded one way or another in the fullness of time.
I think at this moment it may be opportune to give my own motoring c.v., as it's basely rumoured that I am just another "old fart" who likes interfering in things that I don't understand.
From 1962-65 I did a stint as Hampshire Area rep for the Aston Martin Owners Club and started a motoring career hill climbing my DB1 Aston in the U.K.
In Malta competitive motor sport started in 1966, and for ten years the navigator's seat was home in local motor rallies. Fun was had on a few hill climbs, skilled driving tests and motor pursuits, and there are trophies to prove it.
An ongoing relationship with The Sunday Times of Malta began in 1972, test-driving new cars starting with a Mazda.
For six years I edited Car torque magazine and, after more or less finishing with active motor sport, eight years was spent as chief steward for a couple of local motor clubs before doing a stint as president of the Island Car Club.
Late in 1995 I was invited to join the Traffic Control Board, and in 1999 was asked to compile a new Highway Code, as the existing one was a bit long in the tooth. So, as a motoring scribe, I am intimately familiar with the motorists 'Bible'.
From 2002 I was raised to consultant status with the ADT, and latterly, finishing at the end of September 2006, after an interesting four months I was a driving test examiner. In retirement I still write, and work as a traffic management consultant to various local councils.
And that is why I tend to pontificate, and generally bore the pants off anyone who is daft enough to listen, or read what I have to say.
Grand news about quad bikes
A year ago I was approached by my favourite insurance chief executive and was asked to see if crash helmets could become compulsory for people using quad bikes, then a rarity.
This was causing great concern among reputable insurance firms as they feared a dreadful accident, with consequent all-round trauma. For these contraptions are notoriously prone to falling over if driven with verve and enthusiasm, especially if one of the new generation of rather narrow, painfully jolting road humps is struck at speed at an angle.
It's probably worth noting that abroad these super chariots are often restricted to offroad use, and on no account should local riders venture on our roads using proper off-road tyres, as these tyres really don't provide much grip on our old limestone road surfaces.
Anyhow, the ADT took note, and there was considerable work put into the legislation required to make the wearing of crash helmets compulsory. Whether you wish to be macho or not, when a fall is inevitable, not only the rider, but family and friends will be able to rest safer in the knowledge that without a safety helmet a relatively minor skirmish, head first with the ground, would probably have far more unpleasant results than with a helmet on, no matter what the ambient temperature of the day and how unpleasant a helmet may seem.
Safe driving
Word reaches us that, no matter how difficult the current driving test is, it still falls far short of the UK test, although we all work to the same basic 'hymn sheets'.
This is partly true inasmuch as some instructors take their job most seriously and only put students in for the test when they are sure that the standard reached is sufficient to pass. These instructors work to one of the formal instruction manuals recognised by the UK and hence entirely EU friendly.
Likewise, the examiners over here are working to the UK, EU examining codes.
Unfortunately, other instructors fail to use these manuals and rely on 'cottage law' to teach their pupils how to drive in our most demanding conditions, under the entirely erroneous idea that if only pupils can be taught enough to keep the examiner happy 'on the day' the pupil will surely pass, and that for many is the ultimate aim.
By sitting in the back seat of the test vehicle while a few dozen tests are completed, instructors will have a grasp of what goes on during a driving exam. But until all instructors teach such sound principles that their pupils will not simply scrape through the test in the best possible motoring conditions, knowing road signs, carriageway markings, and how to stop the car when asked, but learn to understand different road conditions, braking distances, how to take safe avoiding action, and even more important, continue to drive to the pass standard long after they have obtained a driving licence, we will not see the dramatic improvement that some of us long for.
After passing the current test, the EU licence unfortunately allows people who, unless they have been with one of a small number of instructors, will not have exceeded 60 m/h or used fifth gear, let alone sixth, to drive anywhere in the EU, if they can afford to pay for their insurance.
The driving test is simply the beginning, the starting point, on a learning curve that never, in reality ends.
Elmo Insurance were thoroughly put out by my presumption in quoting Vehicle Regulations and the Highway Code to make the point about stopping all four wheels with the front wheels behind the single stop line, and not moving off until safe to do so.
As things go over here, where the paucity of properly trained law enforcement officers is reminiscent of a drought in Southern Sudan, photographs taken by a warden only showed half the story. They totally failed to show the direction that the Land Rover had been taking along the top of the 'T' junction and gave a thoroughly unrealistic view of the problem site.
For your further interest, and this really applies not only to the many motorists who have enquired after Michelle's fate, but to the thousands who feel hard-done by in incident situations, Elmo kindly invited Michelle to go to arbitration before Dr Joe Micallef Stafrace.
This she was glad to agree to and the saga will be concluded one way or another in the fullness of time.
I think at this moment it may be opportune to give my own motoring c.v., as it's basely rumoured that I am just another "old fart" who likes interfering in things that I don't understand.
From 1962-65 I did a stint as Hampshire Area rep for the Aston Martin Owners Club and started a motoring career hill climbing my DB1 Aston in the U.K.
In Malta competitive motor sport started in 1966, and for ten years the navigator's seat was home in local motor rallies. Fun was had on a few hill climbs, skilled driving tests and motor pursuits, and there are trophies to prove it.
An ongoing relationship with The Sunday Times of Malta began in 1972, test-driving new cars starting with a Mazda.
For six years I edited Car torque magazine and, after more or less finishing with active motor sport, eight years was spent as chief steward for a couple of local motor clubs before doing a stint as president of the Island Car Club.
Late in 1995 I was invited to join the Traffic Control Board, and in 1999 was asked to compile a new Highway Code, as the existing one was a bit long in the tooth. So, as a motoring scribe, I am intimately familiar with the motorists 'Bible'.
From 2002 I was raised to consultant status with the ADT, and latterly, finishing at the end of September 2006, after an interesting four months I was a driving test examiner. In retirement I still write, and work as a traffic management consultant to various local councils.
And that is why I tend to pontificate, and generally bore the pants off anyone who is daft enough to listen, or read what I have to say.
Grand news about quad bikes
A year ago I was approached by my favourite insurance chief executive and was asked to see if crash helmets could become compulsory for people using quad bikes, then a rarity.
This was causing great concern among reputable insurance firms as they feared a dreadful accident, with consequent all-round trauma. For these contraptions are notoriously prone to falling over if driven with verve and enthusiasm, especially if one of the new generation of rather narrow, painfully jolting road humps is struck at speed at an angle.
It's probably worth noting that abroad these super chariots are often restricted to offroad use, and on no account should local riders venture on our roads using proper off-road tyres, as these tyres really don't provide much grip on our old limestone road surfaces.
Anyhow, the ADT took note, and there was considerable work put into the legislation required to make the wearing of crash helmets compulsory. Whether you wish to be macho or not, when a fall is inevitable, not only the rider, but family and friends will be able to rest safer in the knowledge that without a safety helmet a relatively minor skirmish, head first with the ground, would probably have far more unpleasant results than with a helmet on, no matter what the ambient temperature of the day and how unpleasant a helmet may seem.
Safe driving
Word reaches us that, no matter how difficult the current driving test is, it still falls far short of the UK test, although we all work to the same basic 'hymn sheets'.
This is partly true inasmuch as some instructors take their job most seriously and only put students in for the test when they are sure that the standard reached is sufficient to pass. These instructors work to one of the formal instruction manuals recognised by the UK and hence entirely EU friendly.
Likewise, the examiners over here are working to the UK, EU examining codes.
Unfortunately, other instructors fail to use these manuals and rely on 'cottage law' to teach their pupils how to drive in our most demanding conditions, under the entirely erroneous idea that if only pupils can be taught enough to keep the examiner happy 'on the day' the pupil will surely pass, and that for many is the ultimate aim.
By sitting in the back seat of the test vehicle while a few dozen tests are completed, instructors will have a grasp of what goes on during a driving exam. But until all instructors teach such sound principles that their pupils will not simply scrape through the test in the best possible motoring conditions, knowing road signs, carriageway markings, and how to stop the car when asked, but learn to understand different road conditions, braking distances, how to take safe avoiding action, and even more important, continue to drive to the pass standard long after they have obtained a driving licence, we will not see the dramatic improvement that some of us long for.
After passing the current test, the EU licence unfortunately allows people who, unless they have been with one of a small number of instructors, will not have exceeded 60 m/h or used fifth gear, let alone sixth, to drive anywhere in the EU, if they can afford to pay for their insurance.
The driving test is simply the beginning, the starting point, on a learning curve that never, in reality ends.