The traffic congestion crisis has now reached a point where the authorities must not treat it as inevitable collateral damage of a growing economy, but as a real threat to businesses, families, and anyone who uses our roads to commute to work.
After more than a decade of politicians promising pie in the sky, including a metro system, the reality is hitting us hard. The government must urgently tackle the real road pain suffered by road users.
Practically every day, we hear about road accidents, even bumper-to-bumper accidents, that cause mayhem on our road network.
The most recent includes a van that toppled onto its side on the busy Mrieħel bypass, forcing the closure of a lane in the direction of Qormi.
A more serious incident involved a trailer overturning on the road leading to the airport, causing a partial closure of the road lanes towards the airport.
The impact of the growing inefficiency in our traffic management system on business has not been quantified well enough to shock the authorities on the cost being paid for a combination of mismanagement, lack of planning, and incompetence.
There is another stark reality: the hours stuck in tailbacks is having mental and physical health consequences.
Some businesses are adapting and encouraging their workers to work from home. While this certainly helps, it is not a long-term solution.
Having more Transport Malta and LESA officials being detailed to direct traffic in busy road junctions also helps.
But unless we start tackling the actual number of cars on our roads we will keep going around in circles.
So, it is reasonable to expect that, in the foreseeable future, road users will continue to suffer the pain of a failing traffic management system.
Still, short-term tactics can ease some of this pain if the political will exists to acknowledge and address the concerns of road users.
A first step could be to identify the causes of major traffic accidents.
Professional studies by traffic management experts must be made when accidents disrupt our roads. The scope of the studies should be to investigate the causes of the accident and what could have been done to avoid them.
Only in this way can road users be convinced that their interests are being safeguarded by the authorities.
There is no doubt that failure to abide to the basics of the highway code as well as the distraction of mobile devices are among the biggest contributors to accidents.
Transport Malta must also invest in real-time technology to address the traffic crisis. Today, ICT systems harness live data from devices installed on road networks that can outsmart volatile traffic conditions and pave the way to safer roads where everyone moves freely.
Even the use of a less high-tech system through which TM can update drivers on car radios on bottlenecks in the road network that cause traffic congestion could help.
Ultimately, though, the cause of the problem is staring us in the face. During the second quarter of 2024, the stock of licensed motor vehicles increased by 765 over the previous quarter. That means the average newly licensed motor vehicles per day amounted to 63.
Somehow, we need to see a determined political will to reduce this number drastically and improve alternative means of transport.
With many of our roads already at a standstill, we must act swiftly before the mounting traffic further erodes both our quality of life and the productivity of this island.