Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1506016
THERE seems to be a rather con- sistent pattern, developing within the fantasy universe in which our Prime Minister – together with most (but not all) of his Cabinet members – currently resides. It goes something like this: 1) Things go horribly wrong with certain government policies (or projects); 2) Government blames every- one but itself, for the failure of those policies/projects; 3) When government runs out of other entities to blame... it simply shifts the blame onto US: the people of this (admittedly undisciplined) country, who are are just too darn 'irresponsible', to ever follow the rules properly... Right: I suppose you'll be ex- pecting a few examples now, won't you? OK, here goes: Remember that time – in May of this year – when Robert Abe- la was asked to comment about 'road safety': in the wake of a much-publicised traffic accident, which had cost a 17-year-old girl her life? Now: before reproducing his answer, verbatim... it is worth remembering that the accident had occurred on the Central Link Bypass (inaugurated in January 2022): a project which had previ- ously been criticised for 'encour- aging motorists to speed'; and for 'lacking certain basic safety fea- tures'. Even before the tragedy, Attard local councillor Victor Galea had been "highly critical of Transport Malta for having failed to install speed cameras in the 'black spot', where there have been other seri- ous crashes, despite the council's pleading." (The Times, May 23, 2023) And yet – in the same article, please note – a spokesman for Transport Malta said that: "the road safety audit [for the Central Link Bypass] was in its 'final stag- es'." This, incidentally, was the reason given for the lack of speed cameras, too: "Transport Malta [was] waiting for the recommen- dations of an external safety audit on the Central Link road before installing safety features that it says could include speed camer- as..." Lastly, TM also confirmed – as had long been predicted by crit- ics – that the Central Link Bypass had, in fact, 'ecouraged motorists to speed'. The TM spokeman was quoted as follows: "the Attard local coun- cil had alerted Transport Malta to potential speed problems dur- ing the construction of the Cen- tral Link, before it was opened in January 2022. We agreed to carry out traffic studies, speed studies, particularly to see what the prob- lem is and where the problem is." Those studies had concluded that: "motorists were on average driving 10 km above the speed limit. The highest speed meas- ured was 157km/h in a 60km/h zone." And already – just from those few details - we can see that: 1) In its mad haste to inaugurate this project, the government dis- regarded all previous safety warn- ings: and chose to open the Cen- tral Link Bypass to traffic, almost two years before a proper safety audit had even been carried out. 2) Eighteen months later, the bypass still lacks proper safety measures: a state of affairs Trans- port Malta blames on the entity entrusted with the external au- dit – "a highly experienced UK- based Road Safety Audit team", we are told – indirectly arguing that its own hands were tied, un- til the audit was completed [Note: sounds suspiciously similar to the excuse Robert Abela had origi- nally come up with, when asked for a public inquiry into the death of Jean-Paul Sofia. Remember? 'We will wait until the magisterial inquiry is concluded']. 3) Since its inauguration in Jan- uary 2023, this poorly-planned (and seemingly unfinished) by- pass has already been the site of numerous 'serious accidents' – including, but not limited to, the fatal one of May 2023 – and, oh look: most of these accidents just happen to have been 'speed-re- lated'. All things considered, then: it would be safe to classify the Central Link Bypass as one of those government projects that 'went horribly (but HORRIBLY) wrong'. So, um... how did the Prime Minister answer that ear- lier question, about his govern- ment's entire 'road safety' strat- egy? Well... the first thing he said was, 'installing more speed cam- eras will not automatically solve all road safety problems' (a line that was lifted, word-for-word, from a Transport Malta state- ment issued the previous day); and he followed that up with: "increased road safety measures alone will not work, unless peo- ple do their bit by driving more responsibly." Got that, folks? So apparently, these things we call 'safety meas- ures' don't actually 'work'... un- less we all keep ourselves 'safe', to begin with! Erm... sorry, but that's a bit like saying: 'Medicine doesn't work, either... so long as you somehow manage to keep yourself from ev- er actually 'getting sick', in your entire life... and therefore, end up never actually NEEDING ANY, in the first place!" And besides: by the same rea- soning, why bother even having such things as law-enforcement agencies – such as the police, or the law-courts (or, dare I say it: tax-collection agencies, such as the Inland Revenue Depart- ment) – at all? Let's face it: none of that would even be remotely necessary... if only the people of Malta and Gozo would all be just a little more 'responsible', and... erm... STOP COMMITTING SO maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 AUGUST 2023 10 OPINION 'Everyone's responsible, except whoever's responsible' Raphael Vassallo