It may be because of the heat.
It seems to me that the state of affairs on our roads, when it comes to safety and respect for other drivers and pedestrians, has never been so bad.
Over the past week, I have come across the following situations and, believe me, in some of them I could not help but smile and shake my head in disbelief, and in others I was downright angry.
1) I entered a one-way side street in San Gwann and after turning a corner, I found a crane in the middle of the road. There had been no indication that the road was blocked, and there was no other way out, so I had to reverse all the way back and – cautiously – onto the main road.
2) I was driving down Pope Pius V Street in Sliema. The driver in front of me stopped his car in front of a grocery and honked his horn. A woman came out and took his order. She went back into the shop and brought the items he needed. He gave her money. She went back into the shop and brought him his change. And all this while the number of cars behind me piled up, with horns blaring. The driver kept indicating “one minute”… the whole operation took more than five.
3) The plants on the centre strip on the Regional Road were being watered at 1pm on a hot July day. This reduced the traffic to a single file, with the warden more interested in trying to find shade than helping the flow. It’s crazy that such things happen at such a time. For one thing, the people watering the plants should not be doing so at peak hours for their own health and safety. Secondly, this created an unnecessary traffic jam. And we all know what driving at 1pm at 35-36C is like.
4) A gas distributor parked his truck in the middle of Fleur-de-Lys Road in Birkirkara, and took his time in doing his job. In the meantime, this main traffic artery was reduced to one lane, and one can imagine the number of cars that accumulated on each side. It was early morning, with many people on their way to work.
5) The driver in front of me missed his turning on the Qormi part of the Santa Venera by-pass. He stopped the car and reversed about 20 metres so that he could turn off. The oncoming traffic had to slow down because of this irregular manoeuvre. He chose to create a danger to himself and to others rather than take a longer route. His stupid act could have been costly.
6) On two occasions, I have seen tourists – they were driving rented cars – driving on the wrong side of the road. The first time was in Pieta`, with the tourist leaving Sa Maison on the wrong side until he realised his mistake and reversed. The second time was in front of The Malta Independent offices, when a tourist coming up from Sliema simply cut through the traffic where the traffic lights are situated to go up to the Regional Road. The fact that we drive on the left does create problems for drivers who are used to driving on the right, but we make matters worse by the lack of road signs indicating the right way.
7) Traffic in St George’s Bay is a nightmare, especially at weekends, and especially in the area where there are a couple of bars and restaurants. There, cars are parked haphazardly and a few jut out into the main road, reducing the two-way stretch to one lane. It is nearly impossible to drive through; of course, and no amount of hooting will make the drivers of the cars leave their beer glass on its own.
8) A car kept zigzagging over the two lanes all the way from Kappara to Marsa. The driver was arguing with whoever was with him, and seemed oblivious to the dangerous way he was driving, being more intent on looking sideways than ahead. Because his movements were so unpredictable, it was too dangerous for me to try to overtake him, although he was driving at 40-45km per hour. Crazy.
9) A driver made a U-turn at the bottom of the Mellieha by-pass, as cars were speeding down towards Ghadira. He held back the traffic that was trying to proceed up the hill and made a dangerous turn into oncoming traffic. Pure madness.
10) A driver was double-parked in Hamrun, facing oncoming traffic, and forcing cars to use the other side of the road to get past. The driver’s door was open, presumably to let in more air in the stifling heat. One of the cars that had to go ‘the wrong way’ because of this parked vehicle was a police car. It just kept on going, with the two policemen inside barely looking at the driver who was breaking the law and creating a hazard.
11) A car stopped in front of me in Birkirkara, the driver asking for directions. He could have easily driven a few more metres to the side of the road, to allow other vehicles to continue on their way. But he didn’t. He stopped in-between two cars and it took him two to three minutes to understand what the pedestrian was telling him. In the meantime, the drivers behind him waited.
Eleven incidents in a week, and I have not even mentioned the many times I saw cars parked wrongly, drivers moving at a snail’s pace in the outer lane and others stopping to drop off people on main roads while keeping traffic waiting.
In recent years, the driving test has been made more difficult, and this is most welcome. But until the mentality changes and people realise that the road is not theirs, and unless there is more discipline, we will remain a country where driving is more like an endurance test than simply a way of getting from A to B.
We all agree that our roads are far from perfect, but then we find it hard to admit that, generally speaking, our driving is as horrendous as some of our roads.
Most accidents could be avoided if people were more careful and concentrated more while on the road. With more than 300,000 vehicles licensed to be used – we’re talking of nearly one car per one adult – it is imperative that we do not make things even more difficult for ourselves by ignoring traffic regulations and putting our lives, and those of others, in jeopardy.
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