It was only a matter of time before we heard of yet another horse accident. Only a couple of months ago, we published horrific pictures of a horse that had overturned its sulky after clipping a pavement on a busy road near Pavi Supermarket. The horse was badly injured and it had to be put down – but not before it had suffered for hours as the poor animal tried to rise to its feet time and time again. Luckily, on that occasion, no humans were injured.

In the wake of the incident, this newspaper put questions to the parliamentary secretariat for animal rights, asking whether anything was to be done to curb the amount of horses and sulkies on our roads. We asked whether, perhaps, it was time to limit them to secondary roads, or to introduce permits or licences to ride horses on streets. We were told that there was nothing in the offing at present.

The author recalls seeing a grandfather in Siggiewi on Sunday evening. He had a sizeable horse and sulky and his two young granddaughters with him, taking turns at holding the reins. Quite innocuous, one might think. Just an older man spending quality time with his granddaughters. But the question was raised, in the mind of the author. What if the horse was skittish and bolted at the sounds of a horn, or car, or bus, or whatever. What would have happened if those kids were thrown from the sulky, trampled or worse? It is a chilling hypothesis. Some might write off such concerns as being over the top.

But what happens when we put it into the context of what happened yesterday? Chaos ensued after a horse bolted in Valletta yesterday. The incident is slightly different. This time, it was a cabbie horse that was frightened by something or another and broke its tether at a horse shelter. It was 11am. In a statement, the police said that the horse, which was injured in the accident, was tied to the column of a horse cab shelter when it bolted. Attempts by the cabby to restrain it were futile after the horse snapped the strap it was tied with and fled.

Disoriented, the horse crashed into an Opel Corsa driven by a man, aged 59, from St Paul’s Bay, who consequently collided with a Renault Megane driven by another man, 48, from Fgura.

The horse then slipped and skidded into a Nissan Primera driven by a 38-year-old man from Zebbug, before rising and wedging itself between two parked cars, a Toyota Vitz and a Mercedes Benz C220, where it fell and was restrained.

It is clear that something needs to be done. We cannot ban horses from the roads entirely. Cabbies have their livelihoods to safeguard. And horse owners need to exercise their animals. But should they be allowed on major roads? Given the history of accidents and injuries caused in such instances, the answer should be clear. They should be restricted to secondary roads. This has been ignored for far too long now. Does it have to take a fatality (a human one) to make people sit up and take notice?