Some issues raised in your editorial of 13 December (How many more victims? ) deserves further comment.

The statement ‘people who are far too old to be in control of a vehicle being allowed to drive on our roads’ is unfair and begs the question: How old is ‘old’?

On what authority is this generalisation made: ‘older people who do not have the reactions, presence of mind and observation skills...’? Is this generalisation based upon sound statistics, or was it just made off the cuff?

The sweeping statement that those ‘who are far too old’ (whatever that means) should not be allowed to drive on our roads therefore requires qualification. First of all, drivers over 70 years old are anyway required to produce a medical certificate to renew their license at regular intervals (at their own expense) and secondly, though old people may lose certain skills through the passing years, these are amply compensated by experience and prudence.

From our accident record as reported in the press, it emerges clearly that young drivers - and not the old - are predominantly responsible for accidents and recent statistics have shown that alcohol plays a big role in fatal accidents. It is odd how such a significant factor as alcohol did not receive mention.

In all fairness the leading article rightly says that young inexperienced drivers are a danger because they posses neither the experience, skills nor rationality of judgment to be in control of the cars and often drive suped-up machines. And it is also correct to say that the cause of many of the accidents has been young males - even if this is an understatement. Dare one ask the question - would this not make young drivers more ineligible to drive than ‘old’ people?

The question of young inexperienced drivers raises questions, the most important of which are: 1) Is it too easy to obtain a license in Malta? and 2) should restrictions be placed on young drivers? The answer to both these is ‘yes’.

The system in some other countries is for young drivers to go through a series of levels or stages until they are fully licensed. A typical progression would start with a Learner’s Permit (12 months) and require the driver to be accompanied by a parent/legal guardian, carry a ‘L’ plate and not drive between 12am and 5am. These then advance to the next Probationary licence (2 years) and then to a non-probationary licence (1 year). During all these stages the driver remains subject to various restrictions. In none of these levels may the driver take any alcoholic drinks if he drives, in other words the driver must strictly maintain a zero alcohol when driving. Any accident or alcohol infringement puts the applicant back to the start.

Such a system is badly needed in Malta. Additionally ‘young’ drivers (say,under 25 years) should not be allowed to drive high capacity cars (say, over 1,100 cc) - as indeed suggested in the editorial. This would have the added bonus of diminishing the number of large cars on our congested roads and a corresponding decrease in pollution.

The points system is also a good idea but it will be of no use if there is no enforcement in the first place.

The ease with which youngsters can obtain a full driving licence in a short time means that new drivers are allowed out on the road literally with little or no road experience. To make matters worse, parents are afraid to allow (let alone encourage) children to use a bicycle so that youngsters are conditioned to being driven around in a car by parents from an early age. In this way a car attitude is imprinted and the healthy adolescent ‘bicycle phase’ (normal in more sophisticated countries where children often cycle to school) is skipped and our youngsters and would-be drivers don’t come to experience road conditions on a bicycle. It is plausible to speculate that graduating immediately to driving a car with no road experience contributes significantly to the high accident rate among our young drivers - not to mention obesity from lack of physical exercise.

Attitudes to the car urgently need changing, there must be more visible and rigid enforcement of discipline on our roads. The obsession with handsome profiteering from parking fines and speed cameras has resulted in free-for-all reckless driving. The licensing system need a thorough re-think and roads must be made safer for cyclists so that youngsters get road experience at an early age. Teaching cycling skills at school is a good idea. Maybe the new revamped transport authority will bring a breath of fresh air to the inadequate mobility situation in Malta and introduce some changes as those described here.

Dr George Debono

Sliema

Editor’s note: The comments made in the leading article seem to have been taken a bit out of context. TMI was merely pointing out the strata of drivers which tend to be involved in the most accidents and these include young boy racers, older people who might have visual/reactionary impairments as well as careless pedestrians. In no way did we mean to offend older people.