The recently rebuilt road to Mġarr needs to be redesigned because the cycle lane is a danger to cyclists, three NGOs have said.

Moviment Graffitti, Friends of the Earth Malta and Rota have written to Infrastructure Malta and Transport Malta calling for the immediate redesign of Sir Temi Zammit Street to prioritise the safety and efficiency of cyclists and pedestrians.

The letter follows an accident last Sunday in which a cyclist was seriously injured in a collision with a car while using the cycle lane.  There have other accidents on the same road, the NGOs said.

"This open letter follows over two years of public outcry by the cycling community on the dangerous state of the cycling infrastructure on this road. Now, a cyclist has had to suffer the incompetence of the authorities' work," the NGOs said.

"Sunday’s accident could have been easily prevented had Rota’s suggestions of segregated cycle lanes been taken on board at the outset, when they were consulted by Infrastructure Malta during the planning phase of this road in 2020. It is completely unacceptable that Infrastructure Malta reduced the consultation process to a box-ticking exercise. Paired with a complete lack of an enforceable policy on cycling infrastructure from Transport Malta, Mġarr Road features what is possibly the least usable cycle lane on the island, so narrow that it forces cyclists to rejoin speeding car traffic at several points.  It represents a step backwards, not forwards, in encouraging the uptake of active means of transport and in keeping all road users safe," the NGOs said.

"It is a shame that this “cycle lane” on Triq Sir Temi Żammit has been retained despite the outcry, and that not a word has been uttered by the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects on the situation in the three days since this latest accident."

The NGOs insisted that road design should seek to ensure safety for all users and tackle entrenched car dependency.

"Increasing penalties alone will not prevent fatal accidents if our road infrastructure continues to encourage speeding cars at the cost of all other means of transport," they said.