Driving manners

Malta is an island of around 410,290 people, with a square area of 316km and has 2,254 kilometres of roads with 87.5% of them paved and the remaining unpaved[1] (even though some might snigger at this fact!) and in December 2005 there were 213,651 registered vehicles.[2]

From all this information one can gather that our island is rather crowded in all senses and therefore basic manners towards other drivers should be a must but are unfortunately lacking. This can be clearly seen in the way a good number of Maltese drive, showing no respect towards basic driving rules and especially towards fellow drivers. Drivers not giving way when they should, shooting red lights, driving slow on the fast-lane with the proverbial arm dangling out of the window or overtaking dangerously are only a few examples of daily occurrences on Maltese roads. Stop signs also do not need to be put up because with or without them does not make much of a difference. I think that we can all identify ourselves in having witnessed and/or been a victim in one of these situations at least on a weekly basis.

If we were all to observe basic manners when driving it would make life much less stressful for all Maltese drivers and there would be less accidents as well as less cases of road rage.

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. ~Author Unknown

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta
[2] http://www.maltatransport.com/en/tsd/transportstatistics/DrivingLicenses2005.pdf