A speed test exercise on several key roads across Malta has found that the vast majority of vehicles were speeding over the limit established by law. 

Using a speed gun, Times of Malta took a total of 120 measurements at six locations: three arterial roads, a road construction area, a country road, and a residential street.

A total of 90 vehicles were found to be speeding, while 30 vehicles were found to be driving at or under the speed limit. A speed gun, calibrated before the exercise, was used to measure vehicle velocity. 

Road safety is once again at the forefront of public discourse after a downward trend in traffic-related deaths was sharply reversed this year. 

The human body can only withstand a certain degree of energy forces before direct injury to the organs is caused- Jonathan Joslin, consultant emergency physician

While the Times of Malta exercise cannot be said to be scientific, it does provide an indication of speeding.

The readings were taken on roads with speed limits that varied between 30km/h and 80km/h. 

Speeding was more prevalent on roads with lower speed limits while roads with higher speed limits had fewer contraventions. 

In Triq Il-Pellikan, which crosses between Swieqi and San Ġwann, 18 out of 20 vehicles were being driven faster than the 30km/h speed limit. The fastest speed registered was 51km/h, with the average speed being 36.5km/h. 

In Triq San-Pawl, a St Paul’s Bay residential road, 16 out of 20 vehicles measured were moving quicker than the 40km/h limit. On average, vehicles drove through at 45.5km/h. 

On parts of the Mrieħel bypass, works on an underpass have reduced the speed limit to 30km/h. Yet, no vehicle was spotted abiding by the limit, with the lowest speed registered being 51km/h. Vehicles were moving at 70km/h on average.

In Mrieħel, three vehicles were driven at speeds which were more than triple the speed limit, at 96km/h, 107 km/h and 111km/h. 

Similarly, while entering the 50km/h limit flyover joining the Addolorata Cemetery area with Triq Aldo Moro just one of the 20 measured vehicles obey the speed limit. On average cars whizzed by at 68.9 km/h.

Fewer speeding cars on Coast Road

On the Coast Road and St Paul’s bypass speeding was less rampant, possibly owing to the relatively high speed limits and the presence of speed cameras along the way. 

Yet, a total of 13 of the 20 vehicles tested were going over the 70km/h speed limit on the Coast Road, while only four out of the 20 tested cars and motorbikes went over the 80km/h speed limit on St Paul’s Bay bypass. 

A total of 19 people have died on Maltese roads this year so far.

A 2018 United Nations report says the speed at which a vehicle travels directly influences the risk of a crash as well as the severity of the injuries.

A one per cent increase in average speed produces a four per cent increase in mortality risk, while the death risk for a pedestrian hit by a car at 65km/h is four and a half times higher compared to driving at 50km/h, according to the UN report.

Consultant emergency physician and pre-hospital emergency care specialist Jonathan Joslin said the higher the speed, the greater the forces that go through the car and its occupants. 

“The human body can only withstand a certain degree of energy forces before direct injury to the organs is caused,” he said.

However, it is challenging for experts to determine what policies are needed to make Maltese roads safer because of missing data, according to a 2022 study in the Malta Medical Journal. 

“Recommended, important and useful information such as the dynamics of each accident or geotagging was not available,” the study said. 

This year, the police have issued 2,960 speeding tickets by using speed guns. The law enforcement agency also issues a yearly average of 50,000 speeding tickets for infringements caught on speed cameras.