Keeping our traditions and ensuring they continue to go strong is an argument I am wholly in favour of. However, some of them are really becoming a pain in the neck, serve to cause havoc and, worst of all, are extremely dangerous from the public safety point-of-view.

I have in mind the various horse races held as part of our titular feasts. A case in point are the ones that take place on the eve of the feast of Our Lady in Żebbuġ, Gozo where the main road leading from Victoria to the village is closed for hours from the early afternoon until the evening and the only access into the locality is from the winding road from Xwejni to Żebbuġ.

I wonder what would happen in case of an emergency. Would the horse races stop and make way for an ambulance?

I think it is high time these no longer take place in the hub of our towns and villages but in a racecourse.

If we lay so much stress on health and safety in our work places, schools and other public areas why is it that we are turning a blind eye to horse races in public roads?

Have we forgotten the Paqpaqli tragedy?

Short memory seems to have become a Maltese phenomenon.