Opinion writers are often 'lone voices' in this country, certainly expressing the views, not only of the writer but of great swathes of the population at large, people who are then loathe, or unable, to speak frankly about expressions aired by the writer.
We are a population that was 'encouraged' in the Mintoff years to have no opinion unless it was in total agreement with that of the government of the day. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be a general fear to this day that if disagreement with 'policy' is voiced publicly the citizen is somehow guilty of being at best something of a loose cannon, at worst a traitor to either political heavyweights or even the country itself.
In some respects only, this is a struggling democracy; in others we are expected to pay tribute to our liege lord and never upset the apple cart.
People in authority have to earn this writer's respect. They need not be in agreement of necessity with what is written in these columns, but be in a position to judge from experience and training, and then make decisions fearlessly.
They may argue the point to the highest levels, which in our very small society usually means ending up in discussion at ministerial level, trying to explain technicalities with a man or woman who in the real, rather than political, world often has only a glimmer of understanding on what the technical types are chuntering on about.
Hence I am totally 'miffed' with the lack of attention paid when possibly important matters are highlighted and ignored, and, yes, of course, I am fully aware that there must be priorities. But the prioritisation process should also be flexible enough to reflect the needs of the moment because, quite often, if simple things are ignored, they take many years to implement and may cost thousands of liri quite unnecessarily.
Costly junctions
The roundabout that was placed in Msida outside Muscat's Garage was approved eight years before it was attended to. This notwithstanding that it was a known accident 'black spot', with crashes occurring almost twice weekly, according to the managing director of one of our biggest insurance companies.
These cost each vehicle a minimum of Lm500. If we say that it cost insurance companies Lm800,000 before the system of priorities swung into action, we should be fairly close to the mark.
Likewise, the junction in Mdina Road, Mriehel, where vehicles come from, or go under the aqueduct or wish to turn into the industrial estate to visit any number of machine works, Melita Cable or Gasan are faced with a junction that sees the same sort of numbers of crashes as the Muscat's junction.
A year ago I had approval from the ADT in the form of the CEO, the senior consultant and the director Traffic Management to get a sketched design of a simple, cheap bit of traffic management at this spot translated into a practical working junction.
The design office produced a working roundabout, and then it became a real 'roundabout' until I found it impossible to attach an architect to the project.
I was then transferred to the driving examination unit for the last months of service and like to think that useful, productive employment had temporarily been found. To this day absolutely nothing has been done to channel vehicles safely at this junction.
Eighteen months ago it was a top priority to close off the highly dangerous crossover point on the Mriehel bypass. The plans were drawn up and approved, and added to a vast collection of designs that have accrued as top priorities in the design office and then been forgotten about.
Pedestrian bridges
Likewise, the pedestrian bridges near the gas tanks roundabout at Kappara and the equally necessary one in Triq il-Labour on the approach to Paola, etc., by the old Malta Shipbuilding, were approved years ago and it would seem that, because of a directive demanding wheelchair access, absolutely nothing has been forthcoming and the plans have simply been added to the collection.
I blame a system that allows the Ministry of Transport to drag busy working architects or designers away from their place of work within the ADT to have 'meetings' which then seem to supersede the existing list of variable priorities, almost ad infinitum; with the consequence that it becomes very difficult to plan ahead knowing that work scheduled to be done will actually be done, before a fresh summons is received to 'bend an ear' to a ministerial instruction.
The 'miracle' is that under this system of continual 'interference' anything actually ever gets completed.
Very bad vibes
When I moved into the driving examiners' world last June one of my first assignments was to make use of past experiences and plan out some new driving test routes, all starting and finishing at the Floriana 'base' but that would really test the candidates far more thoroughly than the earlier test routes that often became totally 'snarled' up during busy hours.
Six routes were planned, bearing in mind the criteria laid down in the driving examiners' manual putting the required emphasis on using 'real life' situations, and as a consequence interesting 'on road' manoeuvres were to be carried out in Swatar, Sta Lucija, and Mriehel, among others.
Parking on the road was catered for where the candidates would be asked to drive alongside and then reverse, for example, behind one parked car, when the exercise should be completed, within two vehicle lengths
The exercise could only be permitted using the left-hand side of the road in two-way roads, or on either side in one-way streets.
Since time began, reversing had been a monumental joke over here. But with the advent of far more sophisticated driving tests reversing became properly important.
As copious notes were made when learning how to be an examiner it would be deemed proper to quote verbatim: "The road used for this exercise should be not less than twice the width of the candidate's vehicle. A right-angled corner at a quiet junction in a side street would be suitable. The exercise must not be applied at crossroads, near or between other vehicles, or in car parks or gateways.
"For a left-hand reverse the candidate should be asked to pull up before the road on the left into which they are to reverse. They should be told to drive past and reverse into it, continuing in reverse gear for some distance after straightening up, and keeping reasonably close to the left-hand kerb."
The candidate may also be asked to "turn the vehicle to face the opposite way, using forward and reverse gears".
Within weeks Swatar and Sta Lucija, followed by Mriehel, were put out of bounds for on-road manoeuvres and so I was requested to plan more routes using industrial estates for "on-road" turns and parking.
This is not a good system, and it was not a good idea, especially as it smacks of unwarranted interference from within the Ministry of Transport and not someone within the ADT listening to council complaints.
It is imperative that these candidates be tested to the best of the examiners' ability, for the team of nine examiners has the moral responsibility towards parents and family of ensuring that the pupil is safe to drive in 'real-time' conditions and not in a fairy tale world.
The problems arose not because the examiners were using six routes possibly 10 times a day. This problem, like so many others, can be laid straight at the door of the driving instructors who, with all the towns and villages in Malta within their ambit, insist on taking their candidates many times a day along the same routes as the examiners are forced to use, causing massive inconvenience to residents in the process.
Obviously, driving instructors should be asked and, if that fails, told, that on no account may they use test routes for practice purposes. This, senior management at the ADT knows, but is unwilling or unable to issue a directive of this nature to the instructors.
So, for every two steps forward the examiners slip one step backward. How long will it be, I ask, before some of the examiners decide that the job they do is a total no-no in our island home, part of the world within the ambit of the European Union? O me miseram.
We are a population that was 'encouraged' in the Mintoff years to have no opinion unless it was in total agreement with that of the government of the day. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be a general fear to this day that if disagreement with 'policy' is voiced publicly the citizen is somehow guilty of being at best something of a loose cannon, at worst a traitor to either political heavyweights or even the country itself.
In some respects only, this is a struggling democracy; in others we are expected to pay tribute to our liege lord and never upset the apple cart.
People in authority have to earn this writer's respect. They need not be in agreement of necessity with what is written in these columns, but be in a position to judge from experience and training, and then make decisions fearlessly.
They may argue the point to the highest levels, which in our very small society usually means ending up in discussion at ministerial level, trying to explain technicalities with a man or woman who in the real, rather than political, world often has only a glimmer of understanding on what the technical types are chuntering on about.
Hence I am totally 'miffed' with the lack of attention paid when possibly important matters are highlighted and ignored, and, yes, of course, I am fully aware that there must be priorities. But the prioritisation process should also be flexible enough to reflect the needs of the moment because, quite often, if simple things are ignored, they take many years to implement and may cost thousands of liri quite unnecessarily.
Costly junctions
The roundabout that was placed in Msida outside Muscat's Garage was approved eight years before it was attended to. This notwithstanding that it was a known accident 'black spot', with crashes occurring almost twice weekly, according to the managing director of one of our biggest insurance companies.
These cost each vehicle a minimum of Lm500. If we say that it cost insurance companies Lm800,000 before the system of priorities swung into action, we should be fairly close to the mark.
Likewise, the junction in Mdina Road, Mriehel, where vehicles come from, or go under the aqueduct or wish to turn into the industrial estate to visit any number of machine works, Melita Cable or Gasan are faced with a junction that sees the same sort of numbers of crashes as the Muscat's junction.
A year ago I had approval from the ADT in the form of the CEO, the senior consultant and the director Traffic Management to get a sketched design of a simple, cheap bit of traffic management at this spot translated into a practical working junction.
The design office produced a working roundabout, and then it became a real 'roundabout' until I found it impossible to attach an architect to the project.
I was then transferred to the driving examination unit for the last months of service and like to think that useful, productive employment had temporarily been found. To this day absolutely nothing has been done to channel vehicles safely at this junction.
Eighteen months ago it was a top priority to close off the highly dangerous crossover point on the Mriehel bypass. The plans were drawn up and approved, and added to a vast collection of designs that have accrued as top priorities in the design office and then been forgotten about.
Pedestrian bridges
Likewise, the pedestrian bridges near the gas tanks roundabout at Kappara and the equally necessary one in Triq il-Labour on the approach to Paola, etc., by the old Malta Shipbuilding, were approved years ago and it would seem that, because of a directive demanding wheelchair access, absolutely nothing has been forthcoming and the plans have simply been added to the collection.
I blame a system that allows the Ministry of Transport to drag busy working architects or designers away from their place of work within the ADT to have 'meetings' which then seem to supersede the existing list of variable priorities, almost ad infinitum; with the consequence that it becomes very difficult to plan ahead knowing that work scheduled to be done will actually be done, before a fresh summons is received to 'bend an ear' to a ministerial instruction.
The 'miracle' is that under this system of continual 'interference' anything actually ever gets completed.
Very bad vibes
When I moved into the driving examiners' world last June one of my first assignments was to make use of past experiences and plan out some new driving test routes, all starting and finishing at the Floriana 'base' but that would really test the candidates far more thoroughly than the earlier test routes that often became totally 'snarled' up during busy hours.
Six routes were planned, bearing in mind the criteria laid down in the driving examiners' manual putting the required emphasis on using 'real life' situations, and as a consequence interesting 'on road' manoeuvres were to be carried out in Swatar, Sta Lucija, and Mriehel, among others.
Parking on the road was catered for where the candidates would be asked to drive alongside and then reverse, for example, behind one parked car, when the exercise should be completed, within two vehicle lengths
The exercise could only be permitted using the left-hand side of the road in two-way roads, or on either side in one-way streets.
Since time began, reversing had been a monumental joke over here. But with the advent of far more sophisticated driving tests reversing became properly important.
As copious notes were made when learning how to be an examiner it would be deemed proper to quote verbatim: "The road used for this exercise should be not less than twice the width of the candidate's vehicle. A right-angled corner at a quiet junction in a side street would be suitable. The exercise must not be applied at crossroads, near or between other vehicles, or in car parks or gateways.
"For a left-hand reverse the candidate should be asked to pull up before the road on the left into which they are to reverse. They should be told to drive past and reverse into it, continuing in reverse gear for some distance after straightening up, and keeping reasonably close to the left-hand kerb."
The candidate may also be asked to "turn the vehicle to face the opposite way, using forward and reverse gears".
Within weeks Swatar and Sta Lucija, followed by Mriehel, were put out of bounds for on-road manoeuvres and so I was requested to plan more routes using industrial estates for "on-road" turns and parking.
This is not a good system, and it was not a good idea, especially as it smacks of unwarranted interference from within the Ministry of Transport and not someone within the ADT listening to council complaints.
It is imperative that these candidates be tested to the best of the examiners' ability, for the team of nine examiners has the moral responsibility towards parents and family of ensuring that the pupil is safe to drive in 'real-time' conditions and not in a fairy tale world.
The problems arose not because the examiners were using six routes possibly 10 times a day. This problem, like so many others, can be laid straight at the door of the driving instructors who, with all the towns and villages in Malta within their ambit, insist on taking their candidates many times a day along the same routes as the examiners are forced to use, causing massive inconvenience to residents in the process.
Obviously, driving instructors should be asked and, if that fails, told, that on no account may they use test routes for practice purposes. This, senior management at the ADT knows, but is unwilling or unable to issue a directive of this nature to the instructors.
So, for every two steps forward the examiners slip one step backward. How long will it be, I ask, before some of the examiners decide that the job they do is a total no-no in our island home, part of the world within the ambit of the European Union? O me miseram.