While horse sulkies, the lightweight two-wheeled carriages used for horse racing, are driven on public roads on a daily basis, posing dangers as well as inconvenience to users, there are hardly any laws to regulate them.
“There is no ad hoc regulation on horse sulkies even though they are often driven by children,” police sources told The Malta Independent.
The police also explained that they were pressing for such laws but to date, anyone who suffers damage or injuries caused by a horse sulky can only sue the horse owner. Insurance agencies also deem such accidents as ‘acts of God’ and offer no cover for them, perhaps due to the lack of regulation.
Horse drawn cabs (karozzini), which are used to transport tourists, are issued with licences from the Malta Transport Authority (ADT), similar to other means of transport. However horse sulkies are not.
Charles Agius, an official at the General Workers’ Union’s Transport Section, which represents horse drawn cab drivers, pointed out that most of the karozzini also seek to be covered by an insurance policy although they are not legally bound to do so, unlike vehicles. This matter was also confirmed by the police.
Chapter 65 of the Laws of Malta – The Traffic Regulation Ordinance, speaks of vehicle regulations, licences and fines in case of a breach of the law.
The law was issued in March, 1931 and although amended by several legal notices and acts along the years, including an act of 2007, it is somewhat outdated. While it does not refer to horse drawn cabs or horse sulkies directly, the law refers to “animals (meaning any horse, mule or donkey), when used for the conveyance or carriage of persons, corpses or goods”.
Thankfully corpses are no longer transported by means of horse drawn carriages and similarly, goods are transported by licensed vehicles and not animals even though the law seems to allow this.
Furthermore, the word ‘vehicle’ (as described by the law) includes “any carriage, karozzin, animal drawn cart, car, motor-car, omnibus, bicycle or other means of transport”. Thus, a horse sulky is considered to be a vehicle while its owners benefit from loopholes to drive their horse sulkies on the roads.
Recent information provided by ADT shows that between January and June, a total of 39 contravention fines were issued to horse drawn cab drivers for standing their horses at unauthorised places, for not wearing their official tags issued by the authority or for not being in possession of the same tags and for general misconduct. One case concerned animal cruelty and was reported to the police, ADT added.
However the authority failed, when asked, to provide information on horse sulkies, regulations and recent enforcement action. It also failed to provide us with information on accidents in which horse sulkies were involved.
The case of Crazy Crown Vision, a Swedish 10-year-old horse which had to be put down hours before it was supposed to take part in the final race of the summer championship for Bronze B class horses, recently made the news.
On Friday, 24 July, the horse was being driven in Hal Far shortly before 6am when it was involved in a traffic accident. The horse was hit by a motorcycle and consequently bolted off, eventually to run into a car which was being driven in the opposite direction. The horse ended up lying injured on the road while the car involved was considerably damaged.
The car driver, a 24-year-old woman, was taken to Mater Dei Hospital suffering from severe shock. The motorcyclist involved was also suffering from shock, however luckily no persons were injured.
When questioned on the matter, the Malta Racing Club explained that horse owners living far away from Marsa often drove their horses on the roads since they need daily training. While it is possible to exercise horses at the Marsa race course, their owners may choose to drive them on the roads and perhaps train at Marsa once a week.