Police investigating coast road races

This was confirmed by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici in his reply to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Censu Galea.

Concern about the risks posed illegal races and "boy racers" on the coast road has been expressed by a number of people who regularly use the coast road in the early hours of the night, and who were interviewed in a social impact study which forms part of the Environment Impact Study, for the proposed widening of the coast road into a dual carriageway.

Some of those interviewed in the study provided first-hand information about their young, male friends who enjoyed racing along the road late at night.

In one of the interviews, a respondent reported having reached speeds of up to 250kph while on the coast road.

Given that Malta has very few roads at which a driver can reach any sort of speed nearing 70kph, and that the coast road is relatively free of major settlements, many younger drivers feel that it presents an 'open road' on which they can enjoy driving their cars or motorbikes.

According to the study, these racers tend to be young men in their late teens and early 20s who enjoy customising their cars and driving them at high speeds. This is usually done in the small hours of the morning to avoid other traffic and detection by the police.

This abuse is more frequent in the winter months when there is less to do, particularly Friday and Saturday nights.

The study also shows that young women try to avoid using the coast road at night.

Young women, mostly in their early to mid 20s, tended to report that they and their friends avoided using the Coast Road because it was dangerous and they would rather 'take the best of two bad options' and use smaller, interior roads instead.

When asked if they would ever use the road at night, most of whom quickly mentioned the illegal racing and bad accidents that take place on a number of sections of the coast road, which they perceive as being more frequent at night.