Some weeks ago, I was treated to a tirade of blasphemies and threatened with shouts that I would be beaten with an iron rod by a mini-bus driver just because I beeped my horn as he was reversing towards me. This incident happened close to a school and just a few metres away from a police station. 

He even got out of his van and was about to touch my car, but he thought twice about it and left. I duly reported the case to the police and was asked whether I would like to press charges. I told the officer that I preferred to have this savage driver warned about his behaviour as I go drive through that area every day, in case I bump into him. 

The officer agreed and even phoned him in my presence to call at the station. The officer was supposed to call me to tell me of the proceedings. To date, I have not received that call. This driver is quite a dangerous type; he is responsible for schoolchildren but imagine him performing such a dastardly act in front of them. This would surely set a very bad and shocking example. Imagine also if this incident had happened in an out of the way street, and the kind of abuse and beating I might have been subjected to.

The above is just an example of the kind of road rage people have to put up with in this little island with dense traffic, buildings and people from all sorts of races, languages, religion and skin colour. The kind of fury and anti-social behaviour is reaching peak level and I am not amazed that I was not contacted by the police officer regarding my report because the police are inundated with even more serious cases, as I was told when I rang the police station to check on my case. 

It is good, healthy and Christian to forgive and forget but for Christ’s sake, these people are a threat to society and need to manage their uncontrolled anger and other emotions. I fully comprehend that drivers are frustrated beyond imagination but this kind of bullying behaviour is inexcusable.

In my case, I have suffered a gross injustice as I was not only verbally abused and threatened just for drawing the attention of this driver whilst reversing but not even a call from the police station was made to put my mind at rest.

These kinds of situations of road rage and crime in general have a huge impact on our lives. A person with a heart condition trying to defend himself/herself could easily suffer unimaginable consequences when attacked in such a way. 

Truly, we are being exposed to crime daily in the news, social media, television and cinema. In our personal lives, we  witness or experience crime, as I did in one way or another, as it occurs on our streets, homes, schools and workplaces,

It seems that crime is all around us, especially in entertainment areas such as Paceville, where anti-social behaviour is rampant. This is especially true at present, as we are constantly reminded of the risk of crime through advertisements and alerts, security measures and surveillance technologies. 

It is high time and never enough to install measures to prevent and fight crime in our streets. For instance, facial recognition cameras should be installed around the island, especially in high-risk areas to reduce the incidence of crime and apprehend the culprits.

I hope that through this short contribution, our islands can be made safer and that preventive and remedial action is seriously taken against the perpetrators of crime in defence of law-abiding citizens.

Anthony Zarb Dimech