Malta has approximately 413,000 cars. With an average car occupation of 1.6 passengers and an average car weight of 1,500kg, that adds ups to 660,800,000kg of car in total running around on Malta’s roads.
Driving through streets with such a heavy weight brings several disadvantages. Most of the petrol you buy is consumed by your vehicle’s weight. This results in a far higher carbon dioxide (CO2) emission than necessary.
The average vehicle emission is 122.3g CO2/kilometre of which only 9g (about seven per cent) is caused by the transported human. And this does not even include the emissions from the car manufacturing!
The mass of vehicles blocks roads; Maltese people spend 52 hours (that’s more than two days of free time!) in congestion every year.
Driving with a one-ton car poses a danger to everyone. In 2020, 1,153 people were injured in traffic accidents in Malta and 12 people died.
Cars are expensive, inefficient and dangerous. A glance at other cities shows that a life with less cars is not only possible, but even desirable.
The air pollution in Barcelona went down by around 32 per cent in car-free streets; the car ban freed up 23.709m2 of public space and the noise pollution dropped by 4.7 decibels; cars aren’t something we need.