Being a defensive driver in Malta every day at different times of the day and night, my observations lead me to believe that for the most part, driver education is seriously lacking, and that’s putting it mildly. In some instances I am not sure if certain drivers just don’t give a damn about their safety and the safety of others or if they perhaps shouldn’t have a driver’s licence to begin with due to a lack of understanding of the rules of the road.

For example, a stop sign means STOP. This rule applies at all times whether there are other cars or not. It certainly does not mean to infer that one is to blow their horn several times and drive as fast as they can in order to avoid someone hitting them. Also, when one actually stops for one of these funny looking hexagonal red signs clearly marked with the word STOP, why is it that the driver in the vehicle behind them gets impatient and blows their horn as if one was unnecessarily obstructing traffic?

Another example would be one-way streets. Some drivers feel it is their right to disobey these signs and when doing so, instead of thinking that maybe a pedestrian would not be expecting a car to be travelling down the street the wrong way and thereby crossing the road without properly looking, they think “I had better get through this street before someone else comes the other way... or before someone has a chance to read my plate number and report me“ and then proceed to speed down the street going the wrong way as if someone were chasing them with a gun. Now if some pedestrian actually did look both ways before crossing that street, they probably still would not have enough time to get out of the way. Furthermore, if another car turns onto that same street from one of the adjoining streets, I shudder to think what may happen, especially if there happened to be a crossing pedestrian between them. Let us also think of the unsuspecting children and pets who occasionally and innocently wander onto the street.

The above two examples, in my opinion, have nothing to do with a lack of driver education. It is far worse than that. It is a blatant disregard for their own safety and the safety of others. Surely at some point common sense must prevail. I sometimes discuss these issues with some of my friends and they conclude the same thing but finish off their statements with “Welcome to Malta”. The driver education issues to which I mean to refer are more related to rules of the road as they relate to equality and courtesy among fellow drivers. This is not an option. According to the rule book, it is mandatory that the road be shared and not hogged and there are very clear rules stating who has the reasonable right of way in every situation. Allow me to highlight just two of many possible examples. 

In a dual or multi-carriageway, it is the driver on the right hand lane who always has the right of way over other cars behind and beside them, when reasonably practical and when that driver properly indicates his or her intentions via the use of one of those fancy gizmos that are surprisingly found on every car, motorcycle, truck, bus or any other motorised conveyance licensed to drive on our roads. Yes that’s right people. It is called an indicator. It is there to be used (according to the rule book) any time a driver wants to turn a corner, enter or exit a roundabout, enter or exit a parking bay, or even to change lanes. Lanes you ask? Yes lanes. Those spaces in which one drives a car flanked on each side by a white line.

Now in full defence of some people who choose to not use their indicators when making such manoeuvres, one of my other observations is that when one chooses to use that elusive fancy indicator gizmo, sometimes the driver of the other car beside or behind the indicating car aggressively advances to prevent any such manoeuvre in order to assert their perceived right of way. While when they do not use the indicator, they have not tipped off the other driver that they are about to make any such manoeuvre and therefore the other driver does not have enough advance notice so as to successfully block the indicating driver’s manoeuvre. Did I use the word “manoeuvre” too many times? Oops sorry but I’ll make a deal with you. Take some defensive driving lessons and I will take some writing lessons.

The second example involves pedestrian crossings. It is the responsibility and obligation of every driver to stop (when safe to do so) ahead of any such designated pedestrian crossing whenever there is a person waiting to cross. Blowing your horn and advancing through the crossing area, or worse yet, passing someone who has stopped at a pedestrian crossing area, is illegal, unsafe and moronic. Obviously this does not mean that pedestrians should just walk out in front of traffic just because they are at a designated crossing area, unless of course they are suicidal and it is their intention to die. However, let me assure all you suicidal pedestrians that you will most likely not die but rather end up crippled for a long time or even possibly forever. So please think about that carefully before you jump out in front of a car, bus, truck, etc.

In conclusion, we all need to learn the rules of the road so we may be better able to drive our roads harmoniously, mitigate the risk of injury or damage to ourselves and others and compensate for the fact that police never act until someone gets hurt, by which time it is unfortunately too late. The term ‘defensive driving’ does not mean ‘to defend your perceived right to proceed at any cost’. It means, or rather, should mean ‘to drive in such a way so as to defend yourself and others from all avoidable harm’. Far too many people are being seriously injured and killed on our roads and I am 100 per cent sure that alcohol and drugs only make up a small percentage of these unfortunate incidents. Bad drivers and good drivers with bad habits are mostly to blame.

I challenge anyone who believes they are a good defensive driver to go and take a mock driving test with any of our local motoring schools and see how well they do. I did, and despite my defensive driving style, I still made mistakes out of bad habits, most of which I have since corrected.

Alex Caffari

by email