People who live on a St Paul’s Bay street where an elderly pedestrian was killed a few days ago say over-speeding on their road has also caused parked cars to be smashed up by out-of-control vehicles.

Oliver Agius, 90, died on February 6 when he was hit by a car on a part of St Paul’s Street that faces the sea.

The main problem are the blind corners- Resident Morgan Johnson

It is not clear how the accident happened. A magisterial inquiry is underway.

Following the accident, several residents of the street expressed concern about speeding cars driving from the direction of the Olympic Monument roundabout into the road that ends when it forks into Mosta Road and Church Street.

The road has sharp bends. As a result, on several occasions speeding cars that fail to turn in time crash into parked cars.

Rita Vella’s family has had a house on the road for decades.

Pedestrian Oliver Agius, 90, was run over by a car on Sunday. Photo: Facebook

'I saw my friend run over'

“We’ve had this problem for years,” she said, adding that she had childhood memories dating back some 40 years of her father’s car being damaged.

“When I was a teenager, I witnessed my friend being run over on the bend,” she recalls, adding that, a few years ago, a car smashed into her front gate.

Morgan Johnson also lives on the street. In November, his vehicle had to be written off after a car smashed into it while it was parked outside his house.

“The main problem are the blind corners,” he said.

The current speed limit is 40km per hour but vehicles are often driven much faster than that through the area.

Solutions could include installing speed cameras or speed bumps, Johnson suggested.

Hermann Borg Xuereb, who has a residence on the road, had to write off his car because it was one of several damaged in November.

Borg Xuereb said he was in the process of drawing up a petition to install some traffic calming measures because of the accidents that keep occurring. 

Mayor says more facts needed

St Paul’s Bay mayor, Alfred Grima, however, said he did not have facts showing that St Paul’s Street was more dangerous than other roads.

Over the years, the council had several requests to install speed bumps in several roads, including in alleys, but this was not possible, he said.

One had to keep in mind the repercussions of such measures that include noise generation and the impact on ambulances and buses.

“I believe that the issue boils down to enforcement. Speeding happens everywhere and that needs to be addressed,” he said.

Without referring to the recent fatality, the mayor said that before installing any traffic-calming measures it was important to have a clear picture of what was causing the accidents. Only then could an informed decision be taken.

But, all too often, the cause of an accident is not made public.

Under the Maltese system, whenever there is a traffic fatality, a magisterial inquiry is held. The inquiry can lead to a person being charged in court months or years later but the conclusions of the inquiry are not made public.

There is no system that collects information about the causes of accidents, a gap flagged in a recent study published in the Malta Medical Journal.

The study spoke about the lack of detailed data on the dynamics of accidents, which could support education and safety campaigns, especially since the majority of traffic victims are pedestrians and motorcyclists.

The government has promised to set up a transport safety commission to investigate the causes of fatal road accidents. The measure forms part of a wider plan to tackle the crisis on Malta’s roads.

Last year, 26 people perished on Maltese roads, the deadliest on record for traffic accidents.