It had been long in coming, but it is certainly with us now. Most people have suddenly come to realise the traffic situation on these islands has reached a state of utter panic.

Up to a few years ago, there were particular areas like Sliema, Valletta and their immediate vicinities that one could conveniently bypass or avoid. Today there is no such getaway. Wherever you go, whichever part of Malta and Gozo you drive to, you are bound to end up feeling sorry for yourself as you get caught in a snarling traffic jam and in the horrible midst of hundreds of no less snarling fellow-drivers.

But what has really happened? How could we not see it happening all around us? The blame has to fall on previous administrations whose major exponents were more interested in buying super, air-conditioned blue Jaguars and BMWs for themselves in the safe knowledge that a sour-faced traffic policeman and a screaming siren ahead of them would always help them swiftly get out of any knotted traffic congestion. The rest of us could only watch on enviously.

Young men and women quite rightly wanted to buy their own cars. Practically brand-new Japanese imports continued to fill up the roads and village streets. Parking turned from being nightmarish to farcical and vice-versa. The introduction of traffic wardens, however much needed to instil some semblance of discipline and courtesy, added to the confusion as citizens took on citizens over double and triple parking while one got his pizza or pastizzi. People using their mobile phones while driving seemed to get away with it much more frequently than those who forgot to wear their safety belt.

All the bedlam cake needed was the veritable cherry. It came in the name of Arriva, courtesy of Austin Gatt (who can forget him?) et al. The new buses were bigger, wider and longer than the old, polluting bangers, but when London’s unwanted bendy buses were – hilariously, according to chubby Mayor Boris Johnson – put on our roads most people automatically ran for their lives, many by opting to use their garaged cars. Hence the aggravating situation we are in today.

It has been energetic Minister Joe Mizzi’s unenviable mission to face the resulting music. Sorting out the mess will take time, but the more people become frustrated the more they will be willing to accept compromises. They have no choice. Horrible traffic pile-ups and on-going roadworks don’t go well together, so a solution has to be found there. It would be helped if:

n        Traffic lights are introduced in problem areas such as the so-called – and incredibly disproportionate – Smart roundabout separating Lija from l-Iklin and Balzan

n         Unnecessary or superfluous traffic-light systems which handicap the flow of traffic are removed

n        Removal of often unused zebra crossings

n        Removal of time-consuming, traffic-confusing roundabouts, which often come in a maddening sequence

n        Horses are banned from the road once and for all.

n        Trained traffic policemen and wardens really make their presence felt

n        Only one-way traffic is allowed in narrow thoroughfares, such as Sliema’s Mrabat Street, rendered even narrower by resident parking

n        Total ban of bendy buses

n        Time to seriously consider an efficient “Maltese Cross” undergound system which would link the major areas to the north, south, east and west of the islands and making travel vastly quicker and surface traffic less necessary or desperate

n        Introduce cheap ferry services everywhere. It should not be difficult around the shores of an island of just a few square kilometres

There are of course other short-term and long-term suggestions that could eventually and hopefully bail us out of this permanent-rush-hour trauma we are living.

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Black hole reality

A prolonged summer season for us has so far helped to keep people’s minds away from potholes, but recent research in the UK showed that Britain has a pothole for every mile of road in the country. I wonder how we compare. Ten potholes for every mile?

The same research showed a 79 per cent increase in compensation claims in the past financial year from motorists as a result of pothole damage. The UK potholes take up a total area of 295 square miles, i.e. a lot more than twice the size of Malta.

This makes for some scary thinking. With our bigger rate of potholes we can conclude we are actually living in a black hole. If the Brits are free to call theirs “a pothole epidemic”, I guess in our case it is more a question of extinction.

Again, officialdom has been the culprit. While pre-March election tarmac projects took care of some of the major thoroughfares, village and town streets with seasonal craters opening up after every rainfall were left undone.

And again, Minister Joe Mizzi, already no stranger to a sudden need for instant solutions, has to carry the can.

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Hidden surveillance

Contrary to the pothole situation, there is every possibility that our care homes are better run and our extremely underpaid care workers are a lot more “caring” than their counterparts in Britain. But you still hear and witness some disturbing stories of people’s rights to privacy and dignity being abused at old people’s homes.

The problem is so acute in the UK that a proposal has been officially made for the use of hidden cameras to help carry out inspections of care homes and to monitor care providers, both owners and workers.

I am sure most people, anywhere in the world, who have parents and relatives in these homes would welcome the introduction of hidden surveillance. They obviously worry about what happens when they are not visiting. Claims by patients and residents of neglect, mistreatment and appalling food are often shrugged off and too easily attributed to hallucination or dementia. The cameras would hopefully bring an end to all that.

The carers themselves would have testimony of their dedication to duty and attention to residents’ needs, while family and friends would feel reassured their loved ones have been left in safe and reliable hands.

I admit the question of hidden surveillance will forever be controversial, but it is now accepted that every shop and most city vantage points have hidden cameras to ensure safety and quality. Places like care homes and other adult social care centres certainly lend themselves well for electronic scrutiny that would stop the usual exchange of accusations from both sides of the social fence.

The other side of the coin inevitably shows a resistance to the whole idea. There are those in the sector who insist covert surveillance would impact on the residents’ own freedom while it may also have a knock-on effect on the motivation of staff.

Another reasonable, if less convincing, cause of concern is the creation of a Big Brother culture where people are afraid to do the vital job of caring for others. There is no denying the fact that today Big Brother is well and truly established among us and even your personal SMSs and emails are being monitored via satellite. The more you run away from it, the nearer its gets to you. The more they deny it, the truer it is.