An accident in waiting

The sad news that yet another youngster has been slaughtered on our roads has filled me with anger at the total ineptitude of our so-called ‘Transport Malta’ (May 22).

It is only a matter of time before someone is killed on Main Street, in Sannat.

This quiet residential street has the misfortune of being directly connected to the main road into Munxar, forming an ideal Formula-1 type track for the drivers of cars and motorbikes alike as they zoom up and down our street, probably high on drugs.

Letters to the Gozo ministry about the matter have not even been acknowledged. My many letters to the press have been ignored and our police display a supreme disinterest.

Our local council informs me that a traffic bump cannot be installed due to our street being a bus route and that a speed camera cannot be installed for privacy reasons. The best that they can offer is to paint a 30kph warning on the tarmac. Big deal.

No doubt, when (not if) we have a fatality, we will be deafened by the sound of umbrellas opening as all the officials involved try to protect themselves from the cascade of descending effluent.

I am sure that will be of great consolation to the victim’s family.

Charles Gauci – Sannat

Our iconic karozzini

Animal Liberation Malta is the latest entity aiming to eradicate the Maltese tradition of the karozzini by proposing that they be banned and replaced with electric carriages.

A karozzin in Mdina. Photo: Jonathan Borg

This came as a surprise to me since, a few years ago, organisations like Malta Horse Sanctuary, Horse Rescue and Rehome a Horse Malta spoke in no uncertain terms in favour of retaining the custom, which dates back to the mid-19th century and was popular among British servicemen and locals. Today, it functions more like a touristic reminder of days gone by.

It must be recalled that, since then, Malta has made a number of legislative enactments to improve the horses’ welfare by providing adequate shelters, imposing strict time limits for their use, having regular checks on the horses’ upkeep and limiting the number of people on a carriage ride.

Other than carriages being considered a Maltese tradition, it is the bread and butter for these drivers and we are only talking of a small number of them. If they were to be deprived of their only source of income, since the majority of them can hardly boast of any worthwhile education, they and their dependents would undoubtedly suffer unnecessary hardship.

Carriage drivers and owners love and care for their horses. Let us face it, these guys are definitely no poet laureates and watching them press-gang tourists into ‘having a ride with the cabbie’ or a ‘tour round the harbour’ or whatever comes out of the cabbies’ mouths with their limited guiding capabili­ties is pleasant and funny at the same time.

Love them or hate them, it is one particular Maltese characteristic. Could this be why tourists jump into a karozzin in Malta, perhaps even get fleeced, and then return home to flood Flickr and other social media outlets with their pictures?

With full acknowledgement to The Greenfields, I would dread that day when I would no longer be able to softly hum the catching tune of their folk music hit while enjoying a light stroll along the narrow roads of Valletta or Mdina and watching our spectacular, postcard-type horse-driven karozzini carrying a small tourist family, a romantic couple or just a simple lone Eastern tourist seeking new adventures and experiences.

So, yes, please, “ċeklem, ċeklem karozzin”!

Mark Said – Msida