Traffic along Malta’s main routes has substantially decreased over the first quarter of the year, according to data produced by Transport Malta.
March was the month Malta’s partial lockdown commenced, with many shifting to teleworking and most non-essential shops shutting down to contain the spread of Coronavirus. Clear roads and flowing traffic were not an illusion, with data showing in one particular area, traffic flow increasing by over 9% in March.
With several measures now being lifted, many have expressed their concern that despite a ‘new normal’ being the phrase on everyone’s lips, it does not apply to traffic. Whilst traffic flow did not increase over the first two months of the year, a substantial decrease in traffic was recorded.
Transport Malta monitors the main routes of Malta’s road network from the national traffic control centre. The operators observe the flow of traffic via CCTV camera installed around the island.
The operators use a graded assessment to register the amount of traffic, which is stored in a centralised database. As part of their assessment, they mark whether traffic is flowing in each road, or whether the road is carrying light, medium or heavy traffic. They also register when traffic is at a standstill and whenever there is a collision.
The Malta Independent on Sunday analysed the numbers provided by Transport Malta for the first three months of 2020, in comparison with those of 2019, for four main areas.
For the month of March, in three of the four areas there was an increase in traffic flow, with Transport Malta noting that “Obviously, given the current circumstances, our operators registered flowing traffic all the time for most roads.”
Traffic, being light, medium or heavy, decreased in all of the four areas. There were also fewer collisions on the roads, contributing to an 8.2 percent decrease in accidents in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2019, according to the National Statistics Office. There were 261 accidents that caused injuries, including two fatalities.
Whilst the same situation could not be said for the months of January and February, in terms of flowing traffic, these two months still recorded a reduction in traffic. In all areas, February was marked with a reduction of light, medium and heavy traffic. The same applies for January, barring two areas recording a slightly higher increase in heavy traffic.
The decrease in traffic congestion due to COVID-19 can be seen in most European cities, with Rome, known for this standstill traffic, achieving a 96% reduction in traffic.
March showed dramatic decline in air pollution
In Malta, air pollution levels dramatically declined in March, reportedly because there was less traffic on the roads. Data analysed by this newsroom showed that in the morning rush-hour period between 17 February and 20 March there has been an absolute decrease from equivalent to 71.94%.
Chief amongst those pollutants, indicated in the data analysed is Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) – a pollutant which, according to the World Health Organisation, comes from “power generation, industrial and traffic sources”, and which is being increasingly linked to bronchitis, asthma, and respiratory infections which affect both the heart and lungs.