ATP’s Charles Demicoli said the theme for this year’s Road Safety Week was Courtesy on the roads. Respect all road users.

Mr Demicoli said that in the last 30 years, there had been an explosion of cars on Maltese roads. “Government always wanted to make our roads safer and we, as the ATP, have been working towards that aim since 2000,” he said.

Mr Demicoli said that as from May, it would be obligatory for both adults and children to wear seatbelts in the back seat of a vehicle. He also said that government’s sustainable traffic plan aimed to cut serious injuries caused by traffic accidents by half.

Mr Demicoli said that, unfortunately, Malta had some ridiculous traffic regulations that were still in effect. “Someone, somewhere along the line, decided to allow two children to sit in each seat of a school mini-van. It is still the law and it is time for silly and dangerous anomalies such as these to be eradicated,” he said.

Mr Demicoli said that if such regulations were once acceptable and commonplace, the year 2004 was no longer the time for them. “When accidents with school vans happen, someone always gets hurt. Luckily so far they have been isolated, and not so serious, accidents. But what if?” he asked.

Mr Demicoli also said the ATP was trying to make Maltese roads safer by introducing a new driving test and having a penalty points system in place by 2006.

He also said that horse-drawn cabs and sulkies needed to be regulated. “With regard to the first, is it right to have a horse pulling a cab at 2pm in mid-August? And regarding the second, should horse-drawn sulkies be allowed to use main roads just as cars do? I think the answer to both is no,” he said.

Mr Demicoli said that ATP officials would eventually be out on the roads to carry out random roadside inspections, mainly related to trucks, heavy and long vehicles.

Mr Demicoli said: “It only takes a split-second for an accident to happen. We must educate people and get them to realise the very real dangers that are posed by driving and using roads in any form or manner.

“However, there is hope. Malta has one of the highest adherence rates to front seat belt usage in Europe, at 98 per cent. If we educate people and enforce the law, we should be able to make our roads a lot safer.”

Apart from education campaigns, he said, the ATP would not hesitate to adopt shock tactics. “There is no doubt. Chilling and shocking video clips do work and they will be used at some stage,” he said.

He also said there were plans for drivers who have passed their test to be on probation for three years. “If there are problems, their licence will be revoked and they will have to take the test again at a later date,” he said.

Mr Demicoli explained that the present driving test had already changed. “We have introduced the theory test and in the first few months, some 80 per cent of those who sat for it, failed,” he said. The failure rate began to fall later, as people began to give it more importance.

Mr Demicoli said that in his opinion, accidents were usually more serious on newer, well-laid roads. “Unfortunately some drivers want to see how fast their car will go on a good road. And sometimes it is due to mobile phone conversations and things such as smoking or lighting up while driving,” he said.

Mr Demicoli said that government was seriously trying to improve the road network. “In the last five years, some 600 roads have been re-surfaced. For the previous 30 years, our roads had basically been left to fall to bits,” he said.

Lm7 million per year was being spent on the roads. “And we also have money coming from the Italian protocol and European Union funding. But we must bear in mind that Malta is a small country. You cannot embark on too many projects at one go because you will gridlock the whole island,” he said.

Road Safety week began on 5 April and runs until 11 April. As part of the project, the ATP will be visiting schools and launching a new video clip about emergency vehicles.