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It rained last Wednesday. Nothing noteworthy. Nobody drowned and the flood alarms in Birkirkara stood silent. Not even farmers rejoiced. It was a drizzle which managed to make a mess without deserving notice.
Insurance firms may have been a little more alert about it. It was just that smear of rain which creates a peak in their motor claims calendar. One acquaintance described an accident he witnessed at Pietà: a pair of cars had collided and a traffic warden had been summoned to the scene. It appears that on arrival the warden hit the same slippery patch and did more damage to his own car. It was told to me with the smile that belongs on the face of somebody who got away from the scene unscathed. The warden making a mess of things was a fine story.
To me it offered no amusement at all. It is a reminder of our failure to address longstanding issues. Slippery surfaces are a fact of life. We all know and we all should remember that our roads become a skating rink at every drizzle following a long dry period. Unless it rains in buckets the slime formed by dust and oil lies in wait for the most careful of drivers.
Among the urban legends passed onto me from time to time is a story about our road surfaces being diesel soluble. Fuel spilt or emitted from poorly maintained engines eats away at road surfaces, sinks into them and is available to resurface and contribute to the skitter solution. There was a time when I rode a motorcycle when I took the matter very personally.
I have been known to follow vehicles with overfilled fuel tanks until they stop somewhere so I can tick off their driver. I felt just as if he had pointed a gun at me. Inevitably the spills occur in the bends when the fuel slops to one side and reaches the filler cap. It is there that the most lethal traps are laid. Nothing on two wheels can survive a fresh diesel spill on a bend. Nothing. It is literally a killer.
How many vehicles pass the bend at Pietà every day? How many spill a drop of fuel? How many does it take to make the place impassable when the rain brings the brew up to the surface? What are we doing about it? How many other black spots can we tot up?
Perhaps I was less amused than I might have been because I had just had a near disaster experience myself. Heading for the Gozo ferry with my family on board I took the bend down towards Ghadira Bay just a little too fast, just a little more than at a snail’s pace. With the front wheels pointing hard left, the car carried on full ahead for an unforgettable two seconds. The drizzle nearly ambushed me too. How I managed to avoid hitting anything is nothing I would like to boast about. It was pure luck. It allowed me to sympathise with a traffic warden.
How much would insurance firms save if they sponsored electronic boards on major road arteries reminding drivers to watch out for slippery surfaces and skidding vehicles on the bad days? Is it too much to ask with all the wonders of modern technology available to us all that they get together and organise warning signs connected to sensors?
Can we do something serious about our road surfaces at least in the very worst deathtraps? Can we at last have in place a system that documents accident frequency in specific locations? Can we have more method and less madness?
It would not hurt in the least to organise a subtle education campaign. What would it take to get radio stations to nudge listeners into greater caution on the most dangerous days? It would cost nothing. How about an annual awareness campaign starting in September? How about reminders not to overfill fuel tanks placed in fuel stations? Any bright spark willing to sponsor them? How about ensuring that customers know that they can reduce the amount of fuel in their tanks if they make a mistake?
We can never overdo it. Our climate will always produce the surface menace: dust and drizzle to make slime. We will keep producing a crop of new drivers every season, each set up to make his or her own first heart stopping experience or worse.
Perhaps the electronic signs should alternate between written warnings and pictures of the consequences if they are ignored. Pictures of the crop of those maimed or injured would help. For some a vision of their shiny growling toy in ruins would be enough. If anybody can produce a picture depicting a year in court recovering compensation, he or she would deserve a major prize.
This is not about politics: it is about systems. We need them. We do not have them. If we are not alive enough to demand them perhaps we do not deserve them.
hcvassallo@kemmunet.net.mt
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