Insurance Association Malta demands action as ‘Road Safety Bureau faces setbacks’
The Insurance Association Malta has expressed its disappointment that the long-awaited Road Safety Bureau has “encountered yet another setback.”
In December 2022, the Government had announced plans to establish the bureau as part of a wider reform to consolidate air, sea, and road safety investigations under a single Transport Safety Investigation Commission.
The Insurance Association Malta, in a statement on Monday, said that the Road Safety Bureau would be a “crucial” element of a comprehensive road safety strategy, “that has long been promised but remains largely unaddressed.” It said that road safety can only happen when authorities and road users work together towards the common goal and questioned how many more accidents must occur before a “meaningful” change is seen.
The Insurance Association Malta issued a statement in light of the events of the 28th of August 2024, where three people died in separate road accidents.
The Road Safety Bureau forms part of a Governmental action plan to improve road safety launched in 2022 under theTransport Minister, Aaron Farrugia.
The Insurance Association Malta said that “behind every road fatality there is a shattered family mourning the premature loss of loved ones, and the Insurance Association Malta is disappointed that the long-awaited Road Safety Bureau has encountered yet another setback.”
It said the recent three fatalities in a single day, with a number of other accidents happening since then, marked a “tragic moment” on Malta’s roads that underscored the “critical” need for respect between road users and traffic rules.
The Insurance Association Malta said that this is a “stark reminder” that authorities must take decisive action to uphold road safety which includes swift implementation of an accident investigation agency and regular enforcement against driving under any influence, overspeeding and usage of phones whilst driving. It said: “No one can deny that Malta urgently needs a road accident investigation bureau, similar to those in the aviation and maritime sectors.”