Readers were predictably devastated by the news of another unnecessary death of a 15-year-old girl. We continue to hear about unthinkable tragedies like this time and again and yet nothing is done about them. Apart from well-meant condolences on newspaper websites, parents are left to grieve and cope with their loss alone. What is particularly appalling about these accidents is this:  Severe injury and death on our roads are regarded as inevitable so such tragedies are not followed up. Nobody seems inclined to demand a solution; can this be because we prefer to continue driving as fast as we like?  

The fundamental underlying fact is that vulnerable road users, as pedestrians, children, the aged and cyclists, are particularly endangered by fast moving traffic in residential or built-up areas. Two simple undeniable facts are that speed makes the urban environment less tolerant of occasional human error and that the likelihood of fatalities increases dramatically when child pedestrians are hit at high speed.

Not only will substituting a 50 km/h limit by a 30 km/h limit dramatically reduce pedestrian fatalities (especially in children), – urban roads become safer and friendlier and this encourages healthy mobility so that people are encouraged to walk or use a bicycle for short journeys because traffic becomes less threatening.  Contrary to what people think, reduced speed limits do not hinder smooth flow of urban traffic; they have also been shown to be cost-effective. Apart from immediate hospital costs in treating road accident injuries, the significant social cost to the state from deaths and permanent disability after accidents is also reduced. To this are added savings in long-term health costs through reduction of ill health from lack of physical exercise through excessive car-dependency.

In 2012, Transport Malta invited comments on a consultation document on ‘speed management’. One strong recommendation was reducing Malta’s urban speed limit from 50km/h to 30 km/h – as is now normal EU practice. Recommendation for speed reduction is backed up by scientific evidence, slower urban speeds is also integral to a recent European Parliamentary Resolution (European road safety, 27 September 2011).* The detailed recommendation to TM for speed reduction was “noted” ** and immediately dismissed with the comment that “the speed limit to be imposed in residential streets will be assessed depending on the characteristics of each street”. Translated, this means that (safety) interests of pedestrians and children are disregarded. The refusal was accompanied by the inscrutable comment that “the maximum speed limit in urban areas of 50km/h is unchanged in the policy document”. Thus the question of safety in our streets is neatly sidestepped and everything is set to remain the same and needless tragedies will doubtless continue to occur at regular intervals. Local councils mostly tend to pussyfoot on the issue of urban street speed. There are, on the other hand, some councils that wish to allocate more priority to safety but (Transport) Malta’s car-obsessed attitude means that TM blocks any such recommendations. Recommendations for making our (urban) roads safer and pedestrian-friendlier are also opposed by the motor lobby.

The net result is that Malta continues to regard urban streets simply as a conduit for fast moving motor traffic while ignoring the needs (and safety) of pedestrians and children – and so we await the next tragic accident.

It is taken for granted in progressive countries that urban streets are a social space where people and children should be able to socialize, walk and cycle in safety, in which children routinely cycle to school where distance permits and where people do shopping errands on a bicycle – thus reducing traffic density. By contrast, Malta continues to represent the worst-case safety scenario. The only way to get from A to B is by car even if the distance is short.

As long as fast-moving urban traffic continues to be allowed in our urban and residential areas our street environment will remain people-unfriendly, uninviting, unhealthy and, worst of all especially dangerous to children. I would like to suggest that parents of children who were killed or severely injured on our roads, to get together and form a pressure group for safety on our roads – I will gladly join such a group and offer them my full support.

*Anybody wishing to see the extensive data submitted to TM in support of decent urban speed limits is welcome to email the author on [email protected] for a copy.

**www.transport.gov.mt/admin/uploads/media-library/files/Annex%201%20Summary%20of%20Consultation%20Feedback.pdf