You can tell that the election is approaching when the government starts showering us with gifts. These might come in many forms, such as some very attractive budget measures announced during the last year of the legislature, the hyped-up announcement of some fuel price reduction or, in this case, the announcement that wardens will go easier on motorists who break traffic regulations.

The announcement, made earlier this week by Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Buontempo, was met with sheer disbelief. In a country where there are almost as many cars as there are people, where it is widely accepted that many drivers are reckless, incapable or just plain stupid, the government announces that the rules, or at least some of them, will be eased.

In a country where parking is a luxury, where buses arrive late at their destinations because of the plague of double-parking, the government is telling us that, instead of stepping up enforcement, it is doing the exact opposite. It is effectively telling people that it is OK to breach some of the rules, at least for the first time round.

The six contraventions that will carry a warning, rather than a ticket, for the first time they are committed are: illegal parking, damaged or broken vehicle lights, licence not affixed, defective silencers and missing car body parts.

“We do not consider wardens to be a money-making machine,” Stefan Buontempo told journalists this week.  “We wanted to address a barrage of complaints from motorists who had been slapped with a fine for minor offences like stopping in a yellow line for a couple of minutes to pick u medicine from a pharmacy. Though this is wrong, we wanted to give them a second chance.”

This statement in itself beggars belief. Yellow lines are there for a reason, Dr Buontempo. Some are placed at street corners in to avoid obstruction to traffic and so that drivers have a clear view of traffic coming from both sides. Others ensure that garage owners have enough turning space.

The Parliamentary Secretary did not say how wardens will be tackling the issue of double parking – an art which has been perfecting by the Maltese (while we pop into a shop for just a minute or two, you know). But it seems that double parking, as a first time offence, will only be met with a caution.

Have Dr Buontempo and his advisors realised that double parking is one of the main reasons why buses are late. Have they ever come across, as we surely have, a case where a fire engine or an ambulance is obstructed by double parking?

To make matters worse, a fine will only be issued in case of a second offence for the exact same contravention. This means that a person can willingly break all six rules before facing a fine. It is useless to have laws if you then tell people that it is OK to break them, even if just once.

The government has been insisting that it wants to educate people, rather than punish them, as part of the so-called warden reform. Many traffic experts, whose silence after the announcement has been deafening, usually argue to the contrary – that what the country needs is harsher enforcement.

The thing is this - the police are not bound by the rules of this new game and can issue a fine wherever, whenever.

So the next time you are parking illegally pray that if someone catches you in the act it’s the boys in green, not the ones in blue.