More roads mean more traffic and more pollution – AD

During a press conference held today, AD spokesperson in education Mario Mallia, and AD spokesperson on energy, infrastructure and transport Ralph Cassar spoke about the White Paper ‘School Opening Hours and Traffic Congestion,’ and made various concrete proposals on transport.

Mario Mallia said, “the argument about schools and transport, which started with the 2014 budget speech, is totally out of order. It is children who are the victims of the chronic traffic problem and not the cause. Any reference to schools opening earlier is misguided. Children should not serve the economic and social systems which lead to the traffic problem, it is the economic and social system which should change to serve children.”

Mario Mallia said that school children are already arriving at school very early. One reason is the limited number of minibus licences, with minibus operators cramming as many voyages as possible in the early hours of the morning before schools open.

He called for a central school transport system, based on localities rather than individual schools. Issues of safety and supervision on school transport also needs to be tackled.

Ralph Cassar insisted that one Government after another failed to tackle the transport issue holistically. He said that above everything else, the issue of transport is a public health issue and serious air pollution in certain localities. “The serious impact of traffic on the health of the communities in congested localities such as Msida, Hamrun, Marsa and Fgura, among others is obvious.”

“Long term planning is completely absent and some policy measures have actually led to more traffic. The construction of new roads and of car parks in the middle of towns which are already congested lead to even more congestion and pollution,” he said.

“Other short sighted decisions which exacerbated the problem are the discontinuation of bus stations in localities, the negative attitude towards alternative means of transport such as pedelecs, which now have to be registered, the building of schools bang in the middle of the countryside, industrial zones which are not well served by public transport with employees expected to use their private car to get to work, and the lack of enforcement on speeding in our roads, which scare people like bicycle commuters and small motorcycles off the roads.”

Cassar added, “transport policy is still being written through the vision of someone behind a steering wheel. They think that the top priority should be to be able to drive wherever we want, whenever we want and as fast as we can, with no impediment, and with no consideration of the burdens on society as a whole in terms of pollution, public health and the quality of life.”

He concluded by saying that, “our proposals go beyond schools and promote sustainable mobility. It is only through a holistic plan that the issue of traffic congestion can be tackled effectively. AD has been making proposals for ages, through its spokespersons and officials, in its electoral manifestos and in various fora. There are also proposals in the strategy: ‘A sustainable development strategy for the Maltese islands 2007-2016’, which although commissioned by the State, has been totally ignored and forgotten.”