Malta’s traffic woes were brought home to TV viewers live on air after a minor accident was caught on camera during a roadside TVM interview with a Transport Malta official.
The footage shows a silver vehicle crashing into the back of a red car in front as the latter stops at a Paola roundabout, as Transport Malta’s (TM) deputy head of enforcement Jean Claude Attard is interviewed in the foreground live on TVM.
Attard appears startled at the sound of the accident before looking around to the scene of the bumper-to-bumper in the background, while the presenter continues speaking.
The accident occurred just moments after the presenter said the pair were “here in the early hours of the morning, when traffic seems to be at its peak – which is normal for the country”.
Reacting to the incident, Attard tells the presenter: “As you can see, these things happen on the go, as behind us, we have a bumper-to-bumper which can take a while to clear the vehicles from the street”.
He added that TM officials would “place markers on the ground of where the crash happened to move the cars as fast as possible” in addition to their duties directing traffic at what he described as “one of the busiest junctions in the south”.
TM officials can be seen attending the scene shortly after the incident occurs.
Thursday’s on-air accident comes as Malta continues to battle perennial congestion and frustration on the roads.
On Tuesday, gridlock was particularly bad across the country as Malta registered 23 collisions, 10 vehicle breakdowns and two separate spillages across the island during morning rush hour.
Motorists reported spending more than double the usual time on their commutes, and many took to social media to express frustration, complaining about standstill traffic that stretched even onto non-arterial roads.
The issue spilt over into parliamentary proceedings later that day when Opposition Leader Alex Borg quipped to Robert Abela that he was delayed because, due to not being escorted like the prime minister, he was stuck in traffic.