A bureau to investigate road accidents aims to be up and running by the end of this year, according to a government document.

The “end-of-December” deadline is outlined in a seven-page report titled: Government response to the consultation on the White Paper – Towards Safer Transport in Malta.

“It is envisaged that the necessary legislative changes will be presented to parliament by the end of July 2023, with the aim of the changes coming into force by the end of December 2023,” the document says.

The White Paper Towards Safer Transport in Malta, launched last year, proposes a commission that will investigate air, sea, and road accidents from a “scientific” perspective.

Air and sea accidents are already investigated by the Bureau of Air Accident Investigation and the Marine Safety Investigation Unit, with both bodies issuing publicly available reports following noteworthy incidents.

However, road accident investigations are limited to magisterial inquiries which are kept secret and merely seek to assign blame.

The Transport Safety Investigation Commission (TSIC), functionally independent from the transport ministry, will incorporate the existing aviation and maritime investigative bodies and include a new third bureau tasked with investigating road fatalities.

The proposed commission will incorporate sea, air and road investigative bureaus.

TSIC investigations will not assign blame, according to the White Paper.

Extending the scope of the road safety investigations to non-fatal occurrences, providing support to crash victims and their families and “publishing timely safety investigation reports” are among the proposals from the public noted in the March document that summarises the consultation process.

Cabinet and parliament will have to approve a final version of the proposal before the new commission is set up.

26 road fatalities in 2022

Plans for the commission were announced last December, on the back of Malta’s deadliest year on record for road fatalities.

Twenty-six people died on Malta’s roads in 2022, including 14 pedestrians, a man who was driving a horse-drawn carriage and eight motorcyclists. In response, the government outlined a series of measures that seek to make Maltese roads safer.

Besides the investigative bureau, the transport ministry has proposed to significantly increase fines and penalty points for dangerous driving and increasing enforcement.

A law formally introducing stiffer penalties for traffic contraventions started being debated in parliament last Tuesday, while the first phase of a €35 million plan to make walking and cycling safer was announced last week.