A man who sustained skull fractures when he was beaten with a baton during a road rage row 16 years ago has called for a nationwide campaign to educate motorists about their behaviour.

Victor Testa had to learn how to use his right side again after a row over who had priority on a road in Sliema in February 2003.

His shocking case did not seem to act as a deterrent to other drivers. On the contrary, Mr Testa believes the aggression on Malta’s roads has worsened since then. 

The 37-year-old was speaking out after a recent video went viral showing a man beating another person with a baton in daylight in the middle of a busy Qormi road.  

He said: “There needs to be more awareness about the correct way to behave on the road and punishments need to be harsher and consistent.

“I remember when I was younger there were educational campaigns on, for example, who had the right of way at a roundabout. They worked.”  

Police receive an average of two road rage reports a month involving motorists getting physically violent, according to the police traffic division. The most common triggers for these clashes are right of way and near-misses. But many of the cases are known to remain unreported.

Mr Testa was 21 years old when he became a victim of a violent road rage incident. He was driving up St Francis Street and saw a car coming from the opposite direction.

The driver told him to reverse and, following a brief altercation, Mr Testa did so and stopped at a point so that the other man could pass through Norfolk Street. The situation got out of hand when the other driver insisted that Mr Testa reverse even further.

Both men got out of their cars and upon seeing the other driver carrying an object in his hand, Mr Testa grabbed a pot from a nearby house, hurled it at the other driver and quickly ran back to his car. 

Something needs to be done to educate people. This has to start from the authorities but the people need to be willing to listen

That was when the other driver caught up with him and hit him on the head with what turned out to be a wooden baton. 

Mr Testa spent three days in intensive care in hospital and had to have part of his skull removed, leaving an exposed area of the brain covered only by skin. 

He suffered from fits for which he was placed on medication and could not drive for a year. He also had problems moving his right arm and the right side of his body.

Putting the pieces back together

Two years later he underwent another operation to close the wound on his head. He no longer gets fits, and, through physiotherapy, he regained use of the right side of his body and parts of his memory.

“After the accident my memory was like a shattered mirror. I had gaps in reconciling certain events in the past and, slowly, I rebuilt the puzzle,” he said.

A year after the accident, the Criminal Court found Paul Hili, the aggressor, guilty of attempting to murder Mr Testa by hitting him repeatedly on the head with a baton. 

Mr Hili, who had claimed he acted in self-defence, was jailed for 15 years but a Court of Appeal later reduced the sentence to 12 years.  

After the judgment, Mr Testa and Mr Hili reached an out-of-court settlement for civil damages amounting to approximately €130,000. 

Mr Testa says he has let go of the incident and does not want to look back. The incident happened three months before his A-levels but, with adequate support, he managed to pass, eventually obtaining his Masters of Laws degree in international tax.

“With time, things got back to normal. Back then, I had given in,” he said.

“I reversed the car when he asked me to. People tell you not to give in, in such cases. But I still believe that sometimes it’s the best thing to do. These incidents are just not worth it – for the victim and the aggressor,” he said. 

He added that something had to be done to address the increased frustration on the traffic-packed roads in Malta. He notices this every time he comes to Malta, every other month, from his job in Africa where he spends three to four-week stretches.

“Something needs to be done to educate people. This has to start from the authorities, but the people need to be willing to listen,” he said.