Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1151507
18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 AUGUST 2019 5 August 2009 The lunatic fringe at the wheel COMMENT, eulogy and expressions of shock at the death of Clifford Micallef have flowed in abundance, and none seem misplaced. We are struck by horror at this latest caprice of fate. Channelling the energy of our reaction and intense frustration, many of us have spoken or written about the need for stricter enforce- ment of existing traffic regulations, to create greater awareness of the permanent conse- quences of impulsive irresponsibility; of the need for better road surfaces and serious bike lanes. Being alive to the fact that public focus on such issues will wane after a while, some have written of the need to do something perma- nent, to set up something institutional to ad- dress the many faults in the system. Perhaps something will be done. Perhaps not. If it all remains the same, we will continue to witness a greater and greater suppression of nuisance offences (parking in a prohibited place) while potentially homicidal behaviour remains exempt. We have heard it all about unreasonable and inflexible traffic wardens inflicting fines left, right and centre (they have also rendered almost extinct the breed that parked and blocked garage exits), there can be little dis- cussion that they are often overzealous and clearly directed at collecting fines more than securing compliance with regulations. The system is clearly wrong. So many years down the road, it should have taught us much more than it has. It should be making less money for its operators and for local councils. Whatever happened to those nice police- men on fancy motorcycles with flashing blue lights? Have they all bowed out in favour of the little people in green? Or are they retained as a ceremonial guard for visiting dignitaries? The worst offences, the most scandalous behaviour, is committed on the move, out of reach of the wardens. Only policemen on patrol could inhibit the worst of it. Their presence should be felt and feared. Rather than having fixed stations where they can be avoided and foiled, they should keep us all guessing, get us used to being pulled over to check our licences and insurances, make us dread being nabbed for having had a drink too much. None of this will give us certainty that a tragedy such as the killing of Clifford Micallef will be avoided. Such tragedies will continue to strike no matter what. However, making the attempt to change the Rambo culture af- flicting some drivers, will certainly go a long way to reducing the incidence of such trag- edies. That's the best we can hope for but only if we do something about it. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week 'Majority rule' is not democracy Editorial "The result does not mean I will not accept criticism, but I will not allow anyone to hinder the PN's work." PN leader Adrian Delia makes his views clear on the General Council confidence vote TRANSPORT Minister Ian Borg is within his rights to quote a recent TM survey indicating that an 85% majority supports the Central Link project. But there is a danger in using that sta- tistic as an argument to justify the project as a whole. All too often, we tend to interpret the 'major- ity rule' clause as the main definition of democ- racy… but this overlooks the 'representative' part of the system, which implies that majorities elect governments as designated representatives to take decisions on their behalf… and in their interest. In this case, it is clear that the commanding majority enjoyed by Labour did not give a specif- ic mandate to implement the Central Link pro- ject. And while a majority may still be happy with the decision itself, this does not tell us whether it is in Malta's interest to pursue this policy direc- tion to its bitter end. The Central Link project is not, after all, hap- pening in isolation. It is happening amid Malta's largest ever property boom, and a breakdown in trust in the planning process, marred by what are increasingly seen as self-serving interests. Widening roads to accommodate cars, at the expense of trees, is a good example of this in practice. A majority may indeed value 'cars' more than 'trees'… but is it in their long-term benefit to have more of the former, and less of the lat- ter? At a time when world health authorities are beginning to acknowledge the existence of a link between mental well-being, and exposure to the countryside? Likewise, a majority would doubtlessly prefer faster moving traffic, with fewer bottlenecks today; but how many are aware of warnings, by Transport Malta itself, that this policy will bring about more traffic congestion in future? These are among the reasons why the 'majority rule' principle cannot be made to apply to this, or any other single issue or context. It is, indeed, why we elect governments in the first-place; so that decisions such as this are taken in a wider context, which involves the input of experts and regulatory authorities. In this case, the decision flies in the face of government's own traffic management plan. Pointing towards a majority – no matter how big – does not justify ignoring all expert advice on the environmental and logistical impact of the Central Link project. Even if one should not underestimate sup- port for road projects, there is no reason to ride roughshod over the misgivings of the minority. Government should, above all, be wary of not responding to what is also clearly an emotional appeal. The uprooting of trees may pale in sig- nificance to the loss of 50,000sq.m of agricul- tural land, which is the most negative aspect of this project. But one can never underestimate the symbolic aspect when analysing protest movements. Cen- tenarian trees give this movement a powerful motif. It would be a mistake to underestimate the connection between trees that are perceived as part of our cultural heritage, and our own sense of national identity. Resistance to the Central Link project is not limited to environmentalists concerned with air pollution, or climate change issues. Even people who do not identify as environmentalists would be outraged at the loss of a beautiful tree they remember from their childhood. By the same token, the act of uprooting those trees to make way for roads, becomes a powerful symbol for greed wantonly destroying beauty for all the wrong reasons. This issue has unexpectedly created a reference point to a collective angst that has been steadily mounting in recent decades. In this case it has attracted a wide demographic, which includes apolitical segments: floaters and even some PL voters. Ironically Labour's victory in the MEP elec- tions may well have created the perfect climate for an environmental protest movement to grow. One should not forget that nearly one-third of the eligible voters did not vote in MEP elections, a figure which may well contain within it floating voters and the non-partisan segment which was so vital for Labour to win in 2013. Moreover, the government is no longer facing two audiences composed of a loyal herd of gov- ernment apologists, pitted against those who are bent on opposing anything for partisan reasons. One factor government seems to ignore is that a growing bandwidth of non-partisan people – to which it owes its own majority – is getting rest- less at the constant bulldozing of the Malta they know, and are trying to preserve. In the absence of a viable Opposition party, the Labour government may be sowing the seeds for a new political movement that, even if small, may upset the political balance in future. For these and other reasons, government would do well to suspend the Central Link pro- ject, go back to the drawing board, and come up with more innovative, long-term solutions to Malta's burgeoning traffic problems. Nor does it make any sense to shift the blame onto previous generations, for failing to bequeath to us a functional multi-platform public trans- port infrastructure. Innovative solutions are not limited to sub- ways or monorails; Malta must work towards a decrease in car-use, and to defuse the timebomb caused by importing more cars than our infra- structure can handle.