Most mayors favour reduced speed limits

The majority of mayors of localities where new speed cameras have been installed are in favour of the speed limit on these major roads being lowered to 60 kilometres per hour.

The mayors, with the exception of Żejtun's Joe Attard, agreed with the new speed limit, although they admitted that their councils were not involved when the speed limits were set.

Mr Attard said his council had written to the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) for an explanation as to why the speed limit on the Tal-Barrani Road had been reduced to 60 kph.

New speed cameras have been installed on the Birkirkara bypass, the Sta Venera tunnel exits, Mdina Road in Qormi and Tal-Barrani Road in Żejtun.

They have drawn a hostile reaction from some and were even described as useless by two prominent road experts, mainly due to their location and the low speed limit imposed.

Even Labour leader Joseph Muscat added his weight to the opposition to the devices, saying they are a form of hidden tax intended to make good for the government's inefficiency. This prompted the Transport Ministry to speak up for the first time and defend the installation of the cameras as a safety measure.

The mayors of Sta Venera, Birkirkara and Qormi said they had applied for permits to install speed cameras after receiving complaints from residents. They were not involved at all in the choice of the speed limit as this was up to ADT.

Sta Venera mayor Elizabeth Vella said that, when the issue was discussed at council level, five of the seven councillors voted in favour of the idea. Two councillors abstained.

Residents living in the vicinity of the Sta Venera tunnels had had to use double-glazing in their windows to try to keep out the noise of over-speeding cars, she said, adding that, in the evenings, the tunnels became "a racing track" and the noise was "deafening".

She admitted that the council had also discussed the installation of another two speed cameras, one in St Joseph High Road and another in Old Railway Road, at the beginning of Psaila Street, near St Philip's Hospital.

Ms Vella said that when the council learnt that the speed limit at the Sta Venera tunnels was being set at 60 kph, some councillors aired their objections but the majority favoured the new speed limit.

"We wanted a speed camera there because residents were complaining and not because we wanted to raise the council's revenue in order to fund for more projects. We also want to play a part in reducing accidents on this stretch. Sometimes, an educational campaign alone is not enough because you have to introduce measures that have an impact on one's pocket for it to work," she said.

Birkirkara mayor Michael Fenech Adami is also in favour of the speed limit chosen for the Birkirkara bypass.

The council was incurring extra expenses, amounting to thousands of euros, to repair damages to street furniture caused by accidents along the bypass.

Mr Fenech Adami said that "technically, no one can speed more than 60 kph on the bypass because of the three roundabouts there".

The council was opposing the traffic lights close to the Vodafone outlet which, he said, were "practically jamming the flow of traffic".

Qormi mayor Jesmond Aquilina was also in agreement with the new speed limits on Mdina Road in his locality, adding that residents there had long been calling for measures to slow down traffic. Many motorists jumped the red lights there, so a speed camera would also slow down the traffic prior to these lights.

But unlike these mayors, Mr Attard said he failed to understand why the ADT had set the speed limit to just 60 kph. He expected the authority to explain why it had not based its decision on the result of the 85th percentile speed test, which revealed that the average speed of most cars was 80 kph.

He said the council had asked for a speed camera because of the dangerous intersection, which from Tal-Barrani Road leads to a road to Għaxaq. The council had originally asked for this intersection to be closed off but, in the absence of that, they had no option but to ask for the installation of a speed camera.

Most of the accidents on the Tal-Barrani Road were caused by cars crossing over to the opposite lane, so it would have made more sense to install crash barriers along the road, he insisted.

mxuereb@timesofmalta.com