Mosta residents have raised safety concerns for bar patrons using outside tables and chairs at a junction that now faces oncoming traffic. 

Concerns about the safety of the area hit a new peak last week when low, circular bollards placed in the area to protect pedestrians ended up mounted and dislodged in a car crash. 

Placed in front of Mosta’s popular City Bar, the weighty bollards stopped the car from careening through empty seating and into the bar’s front door at around 4.30pm.

Days after the crash, the bollards were replaced with a single steel barrier and potted tree. Mosta's council has refused to say whether the swap is temporary or permanent. 

Recent work on the Mosta Square has seen Triq il-Kbira change the direction of traffic, as the one-way road now takes cars away from the Mosta Rotunda rather than towards it.

For City Bar, this means that cars are driving towards the pub’s outside seating.

“Cars used to drive away from the pub – now they drive towards it. It was only a matter of time before this happened,” a City Bar patron said of the crash.

The crash has sent ripples through the community, worrying many residents and shop owners about the potential danger.

“An ungodly crash is waiting to happen, and someone is going to get killed,” one resident said, pointing towards the bar’s seating area.

The City Bar owners said they had raised the issue regarding the change in traffic direction, particularly because of the safety of its patrons, with local authorities.  But only the Mosta council responded addressed the issue. 

According to residents, shop owners and workers, the car climbed one of the spherical bollards, and knocked another of the heavy round structures down a nearby street.

The crash sent many people running into the streets to see what had happened, but no injuries were reported.

The crash occurred an hour before City Bar’s opening time at 5.30pm, so the outside seating area was vacant at the time, residents said.

However, regular patrons of the bar said that cars driving close to the bollards are a regular sight.

“Once I saw a car hit one of the structures, which rolled away and was then put back,” they said.

“Drivers are obviously confused when they get to this junction.” 

Aside from concerns about the reversed traffic flow adding to the danger for seated patrons, residents also suspect the size of the bollards is contributing to the problem. 

Low and round, the bollards are roughly knee-height with many locals believing that drivers may be unable to see them as they make their way through the narrow street.

“Why didn’t they just use normal bollards,” one shop worker asked, referring to the tall and skinny bollards seen around the island.

Questions about the safety of the area and the removal of the bollards have been sent to the Mosta local council.