After having read Daphne’s article (TMID 10 March) I feel that I too must show my utter disgust at the way motorists are being taken for a ride in the name of road safety.
During the month of February, a speed camera was installed at Xemxija Hill, together with the warning signs and signs indicating the ‘new’ speed limit of 40 kilometres per hour (kph).
This speed limit of 40 kph is an insult to the intelligence of all drivers as it is more than obvious that this measure was taken not for the sake of road safety, but only as a sure way of trapping gullible motorists like myself into parting with a minimum of Lm30.
This is the penalty paid for driving uphill or downhill through Malta’s leading thoroughfare, namely Route Number One, according to the T10 network and as laid out by the local road planners.
This major thoroughfare is the main road linking Malta’s south to north, highlighted on all local maps as Malta’s main route. It is only in Malta that a major highway is cut up into advantageous bits and pieces so that all of a sudden traffic is slowed to a snail’s pace.
After having contacted ADT to verify the applicable speed limit of this section of road and the body responsible for the speed camera, I was told that this camera was installed by the St Paul’s Bay local council and that one may find the speed limits in the highway code. Though according to this person’s knowledge, the speed limits can be changed by the local councils!
Why should this road need a speed limit as low as 40 kph? There are no crumbling bridges to protect, as was the excuse on the regional road. There are no schools in the area. The only church in the vicinity is at the top of the hill, where one cannot drive through faster than 40 kph due to the roundabout anyway. This camera’s only purpose is to fleece the gullible drivers who have to use this road, especially those drivers who use this road once in a while whilst on a Sunday outing, thus unaware of the money trap awaiting them.
Are there no other urgent priority issues pending on St Paul’s Bay local council’s agenda that merit the substantial amount of money spent on this speed trap? I am sure there are, but it is only obvious that the sole intention of this camera is to reap fast dividends, something that it is surely doing, at a phenomenal rate of Lm30 each hit.
A last few question I would like to make: Who is responsible for the monitoring of data stored in these cameras? Who decides who is to be penalised? Who can confirm to me that I was really driving at the ‘dangerous’ speed of 67 kph?
John Borg
Mellieha