Transport Malta has long recognised trees as road hazards - but did it act?

Transport Malta drew up a set of guidelines that recognised trees as a potential roadside hazard back in 2011 but it has failed to confirm whether these guidelines had ever come into effect. The removal of such obstacles could reduce fatalities, according to TM’s Technical Guidelines for the Preparation of Road Safety Audits, Road Safety Impact Assessments and Road Safety Inspections. Times of Malta sent questions to TM following the death of two people on a sightseeing bus which hit a low branch on Valletta Road in Żurrieq. Another 50 were injured, two children critically.  Soon after the incident, double-decker bus drivers and tour operators told the Times of Malta that they had long been worried about low-hanging tree branches and electricity cables. The guidelines were published in October 2011, following a European Union directive on road infrastructure safety management, which aims at ensuring safety in all phases of planning, design and operation of road infrastructure in the Trans-European Road Network, part of which lies in Malta. The directive requires Member States to undertake road safety audits, impact assessments, inspections and high frequency collision...