Schools are still closed for the summer holidays and many workers are also either working half-days or else on leave.
But this hot afternoon in August is providing a nightmarish experience for drivers going towards the south of Malta.
Traffic starts piling up between the Tal-Qroqq and Santa Venera tunnels, and continues all the way to the Marsa junction, where seven flyovers are being constructed in the hope to ease the flow.
But there are several other pockets of congestion, starting beneath the Marsa-Hamrun bypass in the direction of Qormi, all the way up to Luqa.
Drivers who tried to escape the traffic jam by taking the road near St Vincent de Paul were also caught up in the mayhem.
File photo