Speed cameras to slow traffic to 60 km/h on major roads

Motorists will have to be more vigilant in the coming days when eight more speed cameras are installed on major roads to enforce a reduced speed limit of just 60 kilometres per hour.

Several readers have put pen to paper to express their frustration at the new speed limits - the national speed limit on main roads is 80 km/h while that in inhabited areas is 50 km/h.

Two of the new cameras will be positioned on the Birkirkara bypass, one of them next to Klikk Computers and another near the roundabout leading to Birkirkara. The two exits of the Santa Venera tunnels will each have a camera and another two will be placed on Mdina Road, Qormi, one next to Shopwise and the other next to Kia Motors. One camera will be installed in either direction on Tal-Barrani Road in Żejtun.

The Malta Transport Authority (ADT) gave the green light for the installation of these speed cameras after receiving applications from the joint committees of the respective areas, an ADT official said. A permit to install a speed camera is only granted if the committee has carried out feasibility studies.

Although the decision then usually rests with the Local Enforcement System Committee, this committee was never set up again after the general election.

Asked to justify the new speed limits, the ADT official said they were set on the basis of traffic flow established in extensive traffic surveys.

One reader has described the speed cameras as pure "cash traps". In fact, speed cameras are a big source of income for local councils. The latest statistics available, which cover 2005, show that nearly €1.5 million worth in speeding fines were collected from the Regional Road speed camera alone.