Update 3: Children grievously injured in Cospicua head-on crash

Dear all, lets not jump to conclusions about what might or might not have happened in this accident. Always blaming reckless driving and overspeeding for such accidents is merely misguiding ourselves. Whilst the latter are surely recipes for disaster one must acknowledge that there are so many many other reasons for accidents like a driver heart attack or sleepiness at the wheel, a blown out tyre, badly planned roads, etc etc. One blogger here mentioned Germany. Its a classic example where supervision is quite minimal, speed cameras and sleeping police do not exist. Its the only country in the world were highways do not have a speed limit imposed. Despite this, Germany has far less accidents than any other country. The key is the driver who should respect others by driving well and by servicing his car properly. In this blessed country most drivers thing that they own the road. You get drivers coming out of every side street and stealing your right of away, drivers totally forgetting about indicators, drivers driving way too slow on the 'fast lane', etc etc.

The funny thing here is that in order to put a speed camera authorities have to warn drivers, careful and careless alike, with signs that there is a speed camera ahead, otherwise the fines given would be illegal.

I suggest that such cameras are to be mobile and put around Malta without prior advice, this will surely refrain most drivers from overspeeding as they will not know where to find one, like in many other countries.

Come to Sliema: Tower Road and Dingli Street. You'll find plenty of speeding cars there and yet we never had a speed camera. We don't deserve one it seems. Speed on. People die, less pensions, less free medicines, money generated for funerals etc.
But I am not an egoist. I say everywhere speeding becomes a habit deserves a speed camera. How long shall we wait?

Where these children wearing seatbelts ? The Law here in Malta, states that people in the back seat have to wear seat belts.

My impression is that most local drivers do not observe this law. Looking around you in our streets, you rarely see a person in a back seat who is buckled up !

The total lack of discipline in our streets is incredible ...... are adults aware that children are catapulted against the seats in the event of a crash if these are not wearing seats belts?

A recent 'trend' is people sending sms's while driving. It is extremely dangerous for all road users, esp. m/cycle drivers like me !

Authorities please take action!

This car should be displayed in dangerous areas to show what can happen when you speed. It's affective in the US. My prayers are with the injured.

How come the driver was slightly injured whilst the kids are in danger of dying? Were they wearing the safety belts at the back of the vehicle as stipulated by law?

This is a very undisciplined country. Look around you and you will see. We need more supervision everywhere. Repeat, we need more supervision everywhere. Example, it is terrifying to see all these drivers sending SMS's whilst driving, including bus and mini bus drivers!! It does not mean that if a country is democratic there should be no discipline. Sometimes, I have the feeling that even the government thinks like this. Those in charge should go to Germany and Switzerland to learn!!!! Hope is eternal and the last thing to die!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not saying that Attard does not deserve speed cameras - however it is blatant classism when you have a speed camera standing outside the villas of Attard and this notorious stretch of road remains completely ungaurded. Speeding is a way of life on this road.

I would like Joseph Schembri explain why the residents in this town are not worthy of a speed camera. There are decent citizens living there who do earn their living and pay taxes.

Humans were not designed to move at that speed.

This tunnel is notorious for such accidents especially since the tunnel has a bend in the middle and since traffic can travel both ways. Accidents happen in it even at very slow speeds. I once was in a similar accident in this tunnel between a bus and a car. Luckily I was in the bus. A solution is a centre strip with crash barriers. This will remove any possibility of overtaking, be wide enough for a bus to pass, whilst trucks and trailers should be banned from using it.
I also hope the young victims of this unfortunate accident get well soon.

I am always curious when I see or hear of accidents like this, regarding causes. Can anybody tell me how I can find out if for example:
a) Driver was underage.
b) Driver was overspeeding.
c) driver lost control.
d) driver passsengers were wearing seatbelts.
e) who was the driver (was it the owner, one of the kids, etc)
f) Was the owner in the vehicle.
g) was the road slippery, etc, etc

I find news reports too bland unfortunately, and in this case for example, there is a third person, whose age has not been given. I would like to find, and if anybody can direct me to any website (the NSO one is too bland, and gives no information).

My questions do not arise from a morbid fascination with the victims, nor do they come from an overwhelming urge to point fingers, but do to my job, which is Health and Safety, although I don't practice in Malta.

Can anybody help?

BTW, I hope somebody also spares a thought for the lorry driver, who will probably never remove the images of that accident from his mind.

That's a Hyundai Accent, right? That's a notoriously unsafe car. And if the driver was slightly injured and the children grievously, you can bet they weren't wearing seatbelts.

Such a terrible event, and yet so avoidable.

Whilst hoping and praying that these children make a speedy recovery,. I cannot understand Joseph Schembri's comments that speed cameras are for the rich who reside in Attard. This village is like any other village in Malta, where hard working people earn a living and strive to buy their own home.

I feel sorry for those who are in a critical condition, but by the looks of it the driver of the car seems to have lost control, on the bend, which means he was coming too fast or the worst he had a puncture and lost control, the truck driver seems to be well on his side of the road, but who am I to judge. My prayers are with those two youngsters, hope that they improve asap

From what I can discern in the video, the Hyundai is on the wrong side of the road as it is exiting the tunnel towards Cospicua. The driver is believed to be a foreigner. Could he have crossed over onto the right lane by mistake? just a guess.

[L. Desira] That will happen at the same time drivers realize that the single white line where this accident happens means no over-taking ...

Excuse me, can we letthe magisterial inquiry into the accident take it's time to conclude what happened, all I can say is this, I drove through that tunnel 4 times a day for about 8 years, I had to to get home and where I had to go. I never overtook a car no matter how slow it was going and when I had the misfortune of being behind a bus or a lorry then so be it close the windows and just drive on, but never ever overtake cars or especially lorries on bends never.Lets just hope that those poor kids make it out of hospital and suffer no lasting effects . As for making it in time, @ Desira that can be achieved by allowing enough time for your journey, as for the light in tunnels all I can say is no amount of light would have prevented this accident , the driver apparently was either overtaking or lost control of his vehicle on the bend and unfortunately for the kids the biggest lorry available on our roads was there .

I fully agree with Mr. Ronnie Gauci. Something has to be done about such careless driving, and I not here referring specifically to this case. It it IS a national problem.
We need to learn to respect ourselves and most importantly our passengers and other drivers/pedestrians - if need be by the introduction of severe fines and penalties to any one caught doing otherwise.
It only takes a brief drive on any of our roads to witness first hand the obnoxious stupidity of many a driver. How many times have we been forced to concede to the somebody in the adjacent lane, who seems to think that it is his/her divine right to take the the shortest route and ignore the lane divisor? or assume that the lack of visible lane markers in a two lane road means that he/she is entitled to drive in the middle and veer onto one side or another according to his/her pleasure without signaling?....not to mention the approach to zebra crossings, which is usually gas down all the way through and ignoring any pedestrians waiting to cross.
That being said, in the interest of fairness, I think it would be a good time to start penalising jaywalking too.

Why can't slow drivers in Malta drive on the left, and the right land to be used only for overtaking?
If we learn that, there would be much less head on crashes, less people driving crazily, trying to get to their location on time.

Drivers have been speeding up and down this stretch of road for ages. Unfortunately the residents of this street are not as privileged as those residing in Attard and are not worthy of a speed camera. It seems that law enforcement is for the rich only ...

I do not, in any way, condone reckless driving. Having said that, I must admit that it is very frustrating to drive in a car without an air conditioner behind a slow-moving smoke-belching truck on one of our brand new single-lane roads in the sweltering summer heat. I believe that one of the biggest causes of accidents on our roads is the lack of dual carriageways.

Police cars in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area are not under cover, although sometimes they are parked in strategic locations or around a bend where you get to see them when it is too late, if one is over the speed limit.

In all cases, there are clearly marked speed limit signs as well as signs indicating the presence of speed cameras. The main purpose of these signs and the police cars is to make drivers go slow and avoid accidents, rather than to collect fines – even if these very frequently constitute a good source of revenue.

Without assuming anything about this particular incident I think that that's what happens when overspeeding on the wrong lane. This morning while driving from work on three occasions I found myself facing another vehicle on my lane, avoiding a head-on collision by seconds, these were obviously overtaking another car on their lane.

Something has to be done about such careless driving, it's becoming a national problem. I think time has come to equip police cars (undercover if possible) with cameras like in other countries and prosecute and hand out huge fines and jail terms as much as we can to careless drivers, its not fair that for their acts we are putting our lives in such dangers, every day.

Putting this accident aside for a moment, i recall Jesmond Mugliett around a year ago stating clearly that the lighting infrastructure inside tunnels will be revamped with a new system.

I believe everyone here agrees that lighting in our tunnels is a disgrace, especially when driving in the morning where the light inside the tunnel is not strong enough for your eyes to adjust immediately, which thus is a perfect recipie for a life threatining accident to happen.

Can someone from the authorities provide an indication if this is still on the cards and thus is not hepefully something that has been shelved?

God help them all. They are in our prayers.