One of the most disconcerting things to watch is a horse bolting, and slamming headlong into oncoming traffic.
The horse is quite a hardy animal, but it is no match for a box of metal travelling at 30 or more miles per hour. Last week, the media reported an accident whereby a horse strapped to a sulky was involved in a collision with an oncoming vehicle. As a result of the impact, the horse bolted and slammed straight into another vehicle further ahead.
But the most horrific incident took place a couple of years back. A horse bolted from its sulky in Floriana and hit a vehicle. The horse collapsed to the floor writhing in agony, and a street argument ensued as vets wanted to put the animal out of its misery, but the owners objected because they would not be able to sell the carcass as horse meat if this happened.
Apart from the obvious suffering to the animals, one also has to accept that a horse is a big strong creature that can cause severe damage to vehicles if a collision does occur, not to mention the shock and injuries that are caused to motorists.
As things stand in Malta, legislation is lax, to say the least. There was one incident reported to this newspaper where a miniature horse was being whipped, full pelt, dragging a sulky behind it through the Regional Road tunnels.
Surely in 2011, a horse should not be pulling a sulky through a dark tunnel on what amounts to be Malta’s busiest thoroughfare.
Like it or not, the activity is dangerous. It is dangerous to the animals, dangerous to the rider and dangerous also to the unsuspecting motorist. The amount of traffic jams that these riders cause are just not justifiable in any way, form or manner. Perhaps even less justifiable is their rude and appalling attitude and downright inconsideration towards motorists.
A horse and sulky’s place is on a race or trot track, not busy main roads and not country roads either. To be put quite simply, they should be banned from the roads and Transport Malta should really get its finger out on this one.
There is simply no excuse for a horse ‘enthusiast’ to cause massive tailbacks during rush hour, or on a Sunday morning or afternoon when the majority of people are out for the day.
As we have said, the place of such contraptions is a track, and not a road. There is one available and one cannot understand how the authorities have never legislated to this effect. In addition to the sulkies, there is also the horse-drawn carriage problem. While these are synonymous with Malta, TM also needs to legislate and restrict the areas where these can operate. It is not uncommon to see a driver of a carriage leave Valletta and proceed home on the same mode of transport. Here’s a question. Arriva has planned its routes to strict timetables, what happens if a bus gets stuck behind a sulky from Sta Venera all the way through to Blata l-Bajda? Surely, it would throw the system out of sync. These animals and their owners do not belong on the roads. Legislate, get them off, for all our sakes.