One would not be surprised to see plans for a new speed camera to be put up on tal-Barrani Road in the near future after yet another traffic fatality.

It is the perennial problem in this country. We always leave it too late. It has long been known that motorists, particularly younger ones, speed on certain roads. A very tragic incident had occurred last year in Mriehel when they crossed the road and had been mown down by a car.

This led to the installation of speed cameras and this newspaper had actually published an editorial in a very similar vein, saying that it was clear from the start that cameras should have been in place. Since then, the Mriehel Bypass has become a much safer road, especially seeing as the speed limit itself is quite an acceptable one and only comes into effect in the residential area close to where the accident which claimed the lives of two youngsters had taken place.

Surely now, calls will be made to have a speed camera on the tal-Barrani Road. Any driver would surely tell you that while it is quite a plumb road, it does have nasty stretches that twist and turn. When driving along at speed, all it takes is one mistake and a person could clip the centre strip or the pavement and have a very nasty accident as was seen on Monday night. Surely, people must realise that speed cameras placed strategically and especially, with decent limits (not 30 kph) do help reduce the amount of accidents that take place on the roads. And yes, they do also save people’s lives in certain instances.

But as always, it is a question of never pre-empting possible tragedies by taking steps before incidents actually happen. This, however, seems to be a trait that is engrained in our culture. We wait for things to happen (and sometimes spiral out of control) before we do anything about it. We are not sniping at the government or the opposition or even the various departments and entities – like we have said, it is something that is in our characters. And what is even more irritating is that when we actually take very simple measures to rectify problems, we usually manage to solve them quite effectively.

Motorists do not object to speed cameras being placed if they are there to protect people’s safety. But what they do object to is them being turned into money traps, such as the ones in Attard by the cemetery and the ones on Regional Road bridge, which are supposed to be there to ensure that the structure’s integrity is not compromised until it is rebuilt.

People must get used to it, speed cameras are here and they are here to stay. But what we believe is that they should be installed in black spots where speed causes accidents and death. Perhaps a camera on tal-Barrani Road could have saved a life lost.