An issue which many people come across while living in Malta regards the state of our pavements.

Just this week, photos emerged of a pavement along a street in Hamrun which, quite frankly, is in an appalling state. The pavement was broken, covered in gravel. Some parts would have meant that people would have had to walk over wooden planks or flat pieces of metal which, to be quite honest, don’t exactly look stable.

It’s dangerous, and no authority in their right mind should allow such a situation to persist. What should people with mobility issues do? What should the elderly do? What about young children or parents with pushchairs? They will either continue walking ahead, and risk falling over and hurting themselves, or be forced to use the street instead, which in itself is a risk. How is that acceptable? Who would be to blame if someone gets hurt?

Broken pavements should be fixed quickly, and should not be allowed to remain in such states.

But there are other issues that pedestrians face.

Certain localities have evening or afternoon rubbish collection times. Yet… such waste would be piled on pavements from the morning. This means that people using them would either need to dodge rubbish, leap over garbage bags, or, yet again, use the road. This is another issue that needs tackling.

Another point that should be raised is that in many parts of Malta, one can find very narrow pavements. These would be so narrow that a wheelchair would not fit on them. This is something which, as the government continues to conduct works on roads, must take into consideration. Now there are some roads which are so tight that nothing could be done, but there are others where the situation could be improved.

Then… there are uneven pavements, and others that, when wet, are too slippery to walk on. This could be solved through better planning.

Yet another issue popped up last week. A photo making the rounds on social media saw a zebra crossing half finished. Is it that hard to paint a zebra crossing, even if its temporary while works continue?

Then there are tables and chairs placed by bars and restaurants on pavements. On massive promenades, it is acceptable as long as ample space is left for people to walk through. But it is not ok if a person has to step off the pavement, or if people using the pavements end up having to squeeze past each other due to the lack of space.

Pedestrians must be given priority.

If we want to get rid of the culture of driving to a shop that’s four or five minutes away, we need to make it easier and safer for pedestrians to walk there.