Speeding, Malta’s number one killer on the roads, appears to be less of a menace than it used to be, according to spot checks carried out by the police using recently acquired speed guns.

The police believe these speed monitoring devices are themselves serving as a deterrent and they have issued a call to double their number. 

The state-of-the-art equipment is being used randomly on various roads, especially where drivers tend to exceed the speed limit. Among the notorious spots are the Mrieħel Bypass, the Coast Road and the road from Marsa to the airport.

The police last month took part in a European exercise to monitor speeding and the results, according to Police Inspector Pierguido Saliba, were encouraging: Malta fell within the EU average, an improvement over recent years when it was always above average in terms of speed.

Read: Speed guns are catching around 26 motorists an hour

“We caught just over 30 motorists overspeeding at each roadside check of up to two hours in several different locations all over Malta and Gozo throughout this week-long operation. This is within the European average.

We think motorists are becoming more aware of the risks

“Most of those we caught were just over the speed limit while 20 per cent were driving at speeds exceeding the 15 kilometres per hour window over the limit,” he said.

Inspector Saliba said that in certain speeding hotspots, police caught motorists driving at double the limit.

“However, on the whole, we’re seeing fewer detections. We think that motorists are becoming more aware of the risks of overspeeding. However, more can always be done,” he added.

The news ironically came day after a taxi driver was killed in a traffic accident where overspeeding seems to have been a contributing factor.

Asked whether the police were concerned about the risk posed by the increasing number of high-powered vehicles on the road, Inspector Saliba said he was more concerned about the lack of driving experience. He expressed concern at the lack of safety features in the older cars.

Inspector Saliba sits on Tispol, an organisation that brings together the traffic police in a number of European countries, which share experiences and best practices with the aim of making European roads safer and bringing down the number of deaths and serious injuries.

“Malta is a very active member,” said the inspector. “Our motto is ‘Crossing borders to save lives’.”

EU police forces recently worked together to target trucks, minivans, coaches and taxis. Roadside checks were carried out with the collaboration of private operators.

“We are achieving compliance through education rather than through fines. We found that private companies providing such services were very receptive and some are even looking into introducing alcohol spot checks for their own drivers.

“The police cannot be everywhere all the time and we should not be, as we do not want Malta to become a police state. So that is where education and self-regulation come into the picture,” he said.

He said the Malta Road Safety Council was doing a sterling job to raise awareness of the effects of bad driving, overspeeding and drink driving.

“We’re not after fines. We’re happy seeing road safety on the increase,” he said.