Transport Minister Joe Mizzi today visited Tereza Nuzzo School in Marsa to listen to children’s opinions on road safety. The meeting was organized by the Malta Road Safety Council in a bid to better educate children on the dos and don’ts of the road.
In his address, the Minister spoke about how transport is an essential part of our daily lives and how an inefficient transport sector can lead to problems of lost time, money and health.
Traffic issues have been a major source of frustration in the past years, with public transport not living up to expectations with the result that people owning cars in their great majority still prefer to use their own vehicle. The increase in the number of cars on our roads has inevitably also led to traffic congestion in the main thoroughfares, but not only there.
Mr Mizzi also spoke to the children about how road safety should be everyone’s concern, not just the drivers.
The Minister appealed to the children to speak freely so that, if an idea hits him, it can be discussed with the Traffic Management Committee. Mr Mizzi gave an example of a scheme which was presented by a young student two weeks ago where people who own garages can potentially rent out the space directly in front of their garage as public parking for certain stipulated times.
The children’s comments ranged from general observations to stories recounting accidents they’ve seen and how they could have been prevented. One student in particular presented a chart depicting all the challenges which disabled parking permit holders have to face. Speaking from personal experience, since his brother is disabled, the young boy spoke about how many times people wrongly park their car in spaces designated for disabled card holders.
Another boy, who confessed that he aspires to be a Minister for Transport himself one day, very strongly appealed to the general public to be more aware of road signage as well as strongly condemning the use of mobile phones; a sentiment echoed by other children.
Drawing from personal experience, a boy presented his father’s motorcycle helmet to appeal for more widespread use of helmets since his father once had an accident and ended up in hospital due to not wearing his helmet. Another girl spoke of seeing an incident purely because a pedestrian crossing the road while using his phone got run over by a bike rider and both of them got hurt in the end.
Senior operations manager within the Civil Protection Department, Peter Paul Coleiro, who carried the discussion then told all the children to sign their names on boards to be displayed in the school to make them all honorary members of the Road Safety Council.
Photos Michael Camilleri