Dirty bollards at night cost Naxxar council €101,000 in damages to injured motorcyclist

A judge has decreed that the Naxxar local council must pay a motorist the sum of €101,260 after suffering permanent injuries and loss of income, in a traffic accident at night on the T’Alla w Ommu road.

The motorcyclist successfully proved to the court that road maintenance being carried out on the main road back in 2016, was not properly signalled at night due to a lack of lighting or cleanliness of the fluorescent, rubber bollards.

Aged 51 at the time, victim Joseph Fenech was found to have suffered a 22% permanent disability, based on three medical reports, apart from surgical operations that also shortened one of his legs.

Fenech filed his case against Transport Malta, however it was proven in court that the roadworks were the responsibility of the Naxxar local council, which was legally obliged to tend to the proper signalling of these maintenance works.

Two other witnesses, friends of Fenech who had been riding on separate motorcycles, said none of the three motors had been speeding when the accident happened. But they both said that the bollards had been rendered black with the exhaust residue from cars and could not be seen at night. This led to Fenech suddenly being faced by the bollards around the roadworks and forced him into making a dangerous manoeuvre that led to his grave accident.

Mr Justice Toni Abela gave a lengthy disquisition on the nature of the damages that the motorcyclist should be paid for the accident he suffered. “No monetary compensation, no matter its amount, can reverse a person’s now disabled physical faculties… it robs victims of their ability to practice sport or carry out more than one job at a time. For this loss of their human faculties, a sum must be allocated to account for the victim’s psycho-physical integrity as well as their social integrity.”

He factored Fenech’s €21,678 salary for his remaining 14 years of employability at €303,492 but deducted a lump sum of 18%. Of this remaining €248,863, his 22% disability resulted in a lump sum of €54,750, topped up with €5,000 for psycho-social damages.

The €59,750 was then increased by 10% to account for inflation, and then topped up by €35,536 in loss of employment income he suffered during his long convalescence, for a total of €101,260.