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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 • 1 SEPTEMBER 2019 30 August 2009 Editorial: A tragedy foretold ONCE again, Malta has been stunned and sobered by the horror of another fatal traffic accident, this time in Zejtun. Details of this crash – which cost the lives of an entire family: two parents, both in their early 20s, as well as their three-year-old daugh- ter – make for grim and unpleasant reading. But they also illustrate a disturbing fact which is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Driving in Malta (and not just in Zejtun) has of late become a daily dice with death. And when all is said and done, responsibility for this state of affairs lies not so much with any one entity or authority in particular, but rather with a deeply ingrained attitude affecting the country as a whole. Let's face it, this is hardly the first time a single tragedy has prompted widespread calls for an overhaul of Malta's road safety regime. Some years back, three youngsters were killed in an accident while crossing the Mriehel bypass. These deaths elicited demands for protective fencing along that notoriously dan- gerous thoroughfare, as well as widespread criticism of the authorities' apparent laxity when dealing with road safety in general. Four years later, no such fencing has been erected, and the same stretch of road is simply a fatal accident waiting to happen... again. From this perspective, the Zejtun tragedy is symptomatic of Malta's traffic problems as a whole... foremost among these is the state of the roads themselves. Apart from the often appalling surface conditions, it remains a fact that Malta's roads are very poorly designed... largely thanks to a misguided philosophy pro- vided by German consultants some 10 years ago. On the advice of these "experts", roads which used to be multi-laned – such as the Tal-Balal bypass leading to Naxxar, the Rabat Road as it leaves Attard, and many, many others – have been narrowed to single lanes, with the result that it has become virtually impossible to safely overtake for very long stretches. This, in turn, prompts impatient drivers to take unnecessary risks at the earliest opportunity – a situation which has not been helped by an unforeseen effect of speed cameras (whereby some drivers suddenly reduce speed to 35kph, and continue at that pace for miles). It should come as no surprise that, in its reaction to this week's tragedy, the Zejtun local council identified the width of Anton Buttigieg Avenue as a contributing factor. In fact, the council recommends widening this road to fa- cilitate overtaking: a common-sense proposal, but which nonetheless contradicts the current modus operandis of Malta's entire traffic man- agement philosophy. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week Enough really is enough Editorial "We need to address the particular needs of haves and have-nots who are also aspiring to have more" Nationalist MP Carm Mifsud Bonnici on the challenges facing the PN MOVIMENT Graffitti's call for a national protest against "excessive and haphazard con- struction" – under the rallying cry, 'Iz-zejjed kollu zejjed' ('Enough is enough') – touches not just on the environmental, but also on the eco- nomic and, above all, social front. It is admittedly difficult to place one's fin- ger squarely on the precise root of the ma- laise. Public concern is by no means limited just to 'excessive construction'; and even then, there is more to the anxiety than the environmental dimension alone. There are also pressing health and safety considerations… as evidenced by a recent spate of collapsed buildings, that left their occupants homeless and dispossessed. One of the victims of those incidents, who lost her Mellieha home to an adjacent con- struction site, passed away before even being relocated. It was only the charity of friends and relatives that prevented her from ending her life in abject poverty, without even a roof over her head. That example illustrates why such matters cannot be restricted only to the environ- mental perspective. It is not just that we are engaged in a frenzied building spree that sacrifices more virgin land than we can real- istically afford to lose…it is also that this is being done with scant consideration for hu- man life and limb. Government cannot afford to ignore a widespread perception that people are living in fear inside their own homes; and that the situation is being tolerated – if not actively encouraged – in the name of 'economic growth'. This is unacceptable. Economic growth cannot take precedence over people's right to live in safety; it cannot ride roughshod over people's genuine concerns abut their envi- ronment, their health and their quality of life. Elsewhere, the consequences need not be so personal or dramatic. There is also growing unrest over plans to widen roads to accommodate more traffic: in part due to sentimental attachment to the landscape be- ing lost in the transaction – for example, the uprooting of iconic trees on the Rabat Road – but beyond these arguably nostalgic con- siderations, there is also mounting exaspera- tion at an official transport policy that seems to be only interested in encouraging more car use, to the detriment of national health. People are justified in questioning such policy decisions, at a time when govern- ment is supposed to be phasing out Malta's dependency on the private vehicle, and en- couraging public transport uptake instead. Moreover, government's own consultants – including the Malta Transport Authority – have warned that widening roads will only re- sult in more traffic congestion further down the line. Yet government persists regardless: raising legitimate questions on why it disre- gards its own commissioned advice, to favour one particular industry above all else…in this case, the car lobby. Scratch beneath the surface, and a similar pattern appears in other related areas, too. The rate at which the Planning Author- ity approves new projects, or turns a blind eye at existing planning breaches – or, for that matter, how the 'Environment and Re- sources Authority' keeps quiet, while the PA approves projects it had openly opposed – strongly suggests that the motives are more economic than environmental. Wherever one looks, there is the vague suggestion of collusion between business in- terests and government/regulatory authori- ties. And Moviment Graffitti has a point: there is simply too much of it. Enough really is enough. The protest will be held on Saturday 7 Sep- tember in Valletta – eve of Victory Day – and the organisers did not pull any punches when it came to explaining the motivation. "The aim of this protest is to bring together residents, workers, farmers, students and organisations who are fed up of excessive and haphazard construction so as to make their voices heard in opposition to the mad- ness that is consuming our country," Graf- fitti said. "We believe that together we can change this situation and fight the excessive power of the few who treat Malta as their own patch of land through which they can speculate and make profits." The protest will also make a number of related demands, mainly to call for a radical change in planning policies so that they re- spect the interests of the majority, including future generations, instead of protecting the profits of the few. The demands also include calling for regu- lators to be free from commercial and politi- cal interests. "We want democratic authori- ties that can truly decide in the best interests of our country," Graffitti said. The group will also call for a moratorium on large-scale projects until a comprehen- sive and serious plan for development in Malta is introduced. "This plan should en- sure that these types of projects respect the community and are sustainable." Other demands include the regulation of the construction industry to hold develop- ers responsible for the work carried out in construction sites and ensure this does not endanger or disturb people's lives; and to reconsider the decision to build and widen roads that will destroy huge amounts of trees and arable land. "Instead, Government should be work- ing on the creation and implementation of a strategy that truly addresses the traffic and pollution issues, and this strategy should in- clude serious investment in alternative means of transport," Graffitti said. These are all entirely reasonable demands, given the extent of the public concern at the situation. Government would do well to lis- ten, before it is too late.