Transport Malta's Chief Officer, responsible for the Roads and Infrastructure Directorate, told the courts that a crash barrier, which is known to be extremely perilous, had not been made safer due to a lack of accidents that happened on the barrier.
He further explained that because not enough accidents had occurred on the "death trap" barrier, as described by the European Parliament, there was no pressure for allocate funds in the budget to make it safer.
The incident dates back to 6 July 2014 when John Baldacchino, now 60-years-old, skidded into the guard rail as he was turning a bend on Aviation Avenue in Gudja. He lost his right arm and suffered a 60 per cent disability. He was driving a Yamaha XJR 1300 at the time of the incident.
Mr Baldacchino underwent surgery following the accident, with the medical intervention involving several vein grafts and fixations on the fractured bones. Unfortunately, the circulation through his right arm could not be restored and therefore, the same arm had to be amputated at the shoulder six days after the surgery.
The plaintiff, who was born a right-handed man, had to learn how to carry out all his daily tasks with his left arm, such as writing, working a computer, feeding himself, brushing his teeth, etc.
Mr Baldacchino instituted a civil case against Transport Malta, with senior official for the company Simon Grima called to take the witness stand.
In his testimony, Mr Grima explained how the road safety standards in Malta used to be based on the British Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (BDMRB). The European Union had published their own set of standards in 2008, with Malta eventually implementing the recommendations in 2015.
It was said that within these European standards contained a measure aimed at reducing biker injuries. This related to the installation of 'biker strips' that would prevent unseated bikers from getting caught under the barriers.
Lawyer Carlos Bugeja, representing Mr Baldacchino, questioned why the European standards had taken so long to be implemented and confronted Mr Grima with the loud display when Transport Malta had finally installed the biker strips on the coast road in 2015.
"It was a big headache to include biker strips without reducing the performance of the barriers," said Mr Grima. The term used for crash barriers is "vehicle restraint systems," he added.
"Is vehicle a car or a bike or both?" asked Dr Bugeja.
Mr Grima continued to explain that bureaucracy was also an obstacle for the implementation of the necessary standards. He said that an audit had to take place on the updated design of the bike strip, followed by another audit on the barriers' as soon as they are installed and a third audit that is to take place one year after installation.
Dr Bugeja pointed out to the witness that in his previous testimony, he had said that Transpot Malta tried to do as much as it could to install the necessary safety changes.
Mr Grima said that the authority could not afford to install all the bike strips on all the barriers, however he then said that it was not a matter of cost.
"Yes we knew what the problem was in 2008 but there is a difference between knowing and having the solution. The EU has not issued any standards."
Dr Bugeja confronted the witness with a section of the EU report which advises that corrective action be taken where these dangerous crash barriers are installed, asking him whether the authority was effectively waiting for somebody to die before taking action.
This caused judge Lawrence Mintoff, presiding over the case, to intervene. He said that Dr Bugeja was making the witness look like he was uncaring and reckless.
Dr Bugeja retorted by saying that rather than blaming the witness, he was pointing out that there was an EU point of reference on the problem and what should be done.
He then asked the witness about the road in question, and whether corrective action was taken following Mr Baldacchino's accident. Mr Grima said he needed to consult with the statistics as he was unaware.
"So if you have one incident that means nothing happens?" Dr Bugeja asked. "It depends on the availability of resources," Mr Grima replied.
The court appointed an expert to evaluate the extent of the plaintiff's disability for the next sitting, which will take place in January.
Lawyer Carina Testa is defending Transport Malta.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2f15IhZ
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment