About eight months ago, my friend Peter Ripard was injured in a horrific and mindless bomb attack on the offices of Transport Malta in Sa’ Maison. His injuries led tragically to his left leg being amputated. Peter is 74-years-old. Despite the pain and trauma of the accident, he has since returned to work as adviser to Transport Malta on road safety and recently delivered the opening address at an international conference of the International Commission for Driver Testing, which he was instrumental in bringing to Malta

I shall say no more about the exemplary personal courage which he has displayed throughout the last few months – except to acknowledge it with great admiration. He spoke in his address about improving the overall level of driver training and testing, with particular emphasis on an improved assessment strategy for driving instructors. This would include continuous personal development for instructors and examiners, with the emphasis being placed on the quality of the training. This should be designed to produce safe drivers for life and not merely drivers competent enough simply to pass their driving test. Instructors themselves had to know how to teach and not just put a learner behind the wheel without also giving him or her basic information about possible hazards.

In a country with almost 240,000 licensed drivers crowded into an area of just 316 square kilometres, it is little wonder that driving has become such an unpleasant and sometimes hazardous chore. Although the number of road deaths in Malta has recently registered a significant drop, the fact of the matter is that, as we see evidenced daily on our roads, the number of accidents (‘bumper to bumper fender-benders’ and others ) remains high. I suspect that we are spared the horrors of more fatalities because our roads are intrinsically winding, narrow and slow.

The European Commission has just launched a safe-driving campaign aimed at cracking down on drivers committing traffic offences abroad. It has issued a seven-point road safety programme. The fourth point of these chimes in precisely with what Peter Ripard was saying at the international conference earlier, dealing with ‘Strengthening Education and Training for Road Users’, the first sentence of which says it all: “The road user is the first link in the safety chain and the one most prone to error. Whatever the technical measures in place, the effectiveness of road safety policy depends ultimately on users’ behaviour. Education, training and enforcement are essential... At EU level this will include, as a priority, strengthening the quality of the licensing and training system…”

In Malta, there is I believe one element above all others that we should concentrate on, both with regards to drivers and their instructors, and this is the need for greater courtesy on the road. When the EU-wide statistics which have just been issued showing the number of road deaths for 2010 are examined, it is noteworthy that the three countries with the safest roads in Europe are Sweden, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, in that order. What marks these countries out when you drive in them is the courtesy of the drivers. But the issue goes beyond the courtesy displayed by drivers on the road. The Swedes, the British and the Dutch are naturally courteous people. Walk on the streets, go into a shop or any public place and there is a palpable consideration for the feelings of other people. There is no barging, no shouting, no pushing forward to the head of a queue without regard for those who have been there before.

Malta is renowned for its friendliness. We are a naturally friendly people. But we are not a courteous people. The difference is that friendliness is in our genes. But courtesy has to be learnt. It is learnt at school and, most importantly, at home. It is a part of the education of a people, in the widest definition of the word ‘education,’ meaning a preparation for life. The level of courtesy and good manners in our homes and in our public behaviour is lacking. Go to any beach in the summer and the lack of consideration for others is only too apparent. It is simply not in our culture.

But worse. Drive on any road and the lack of driver courtesy is appalling. Drivers rarely signal. They drive in the wrong lane. They cut in haphazardly without warning. They drive too slowly or too fast for the road conditions. They tail-gate. They stop in the middle of the road to have a chat carelessly holding up the traffic behind. Lights that should be dipped are on full beam. This is to say nothing of those cars that pollute our lungs with their badly-adjusted engines because their drivers don’t give a damn for other users on the road. And almost as bad, if you give way, out of courtesy, to another driver he fails to acknowledge your gesture with so much as a wave of the hand or a smile. The list is not exhaustive.

Manners are what hold society together. They are a most important element of what makes a country civilised. It is not to be petits bourgeois to have good manners and to show courtesy to others. On the contrary, manners cross all social demarcations. Manners are to do with respecting other people. It is discourteous to arrive late for an appointment or to shout. It is discourteous to queue-barge. It is discourteous to throw litter in the streets. It takes guts to have good manners. It is not a matter of snobbery or so-called social class. Manners and courtesy are the one real indicator of class in the truest sense of the word. We should cherish them.

But most importantly, we should seek to bring the culture of good manners and courtesy to our roads and to our driving habits. This will take a culture change since we do not currently place sufficient importance, either in our schools or our homes, on this vital attribute. Malta, as we have seen in recent months, is changing rapidly, becoming for want of a better phrase ‘more European’. The need to inculcate a culture of greater courtesy in our people, but especially in our drivers and driving habits, is now overdue.

Martin Scicluna is a member of the IVA Campaign and the lead author of the Report ‘For Worse, For Better: Remarriage After Legal Separation’