Gżira mayor Conrad Borg Manche also lamented the number of fatal accidents occurring in Malta, stating that something needs to be done.

“Another life is taken away. To be honest I really couldn’t find the right words after reading about this tragedy. I didn’t know Pelin but from her picture one can say that she is a lovely person. What a fate this lovely lady had to face at the best time of her life,” Borg Manche said on social media.

“My sincere condolences to Pelin Kaya’s family my thoughts are with them. I cannot imagine what they are going through.”

“Too many fatal accidents and cowboys on our roads, and something needs to be done. I still remember the fatal accident a few hundred metres away from there where Stephanie Rapa was killed. I know what her parents went through and I kept in touch with them; it is heartbreaking,” he said.

Local writer Gabriel Lia also penned a beautiful poem in Maltese in memory of Pelin, commemorating her memory and the fact she lost her life on her own birthday.

“Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone, and more fragile than a rose,” he wrote, concluding with a Turkish proverb.

“Yet another case of those in power calling for justice but not delivering it,” lawyer Martina Caruana said. 

“On her 30th birthday, Pelin Kaya became the 60th pedestrian to lose her life in a road crash in Malta in just the past decade.”

“This staggering statistic exposes the systemic failures and neglect of those in power, as innocent lives are tragically cut short and families are left to grieve. It is unacceptable that individuals should lose their lives simply for being outside and traversing the streets.”

Meanwhile, independent politician Arnold Cassola placed cocaine as the centre of his focus for today’s status.

“The horrible killing of Pelin Kaya seems to have opened up the country to the reality of cocaine usage,” he said.

“Good morning – and not only arrogant bullies abound. How many professionals, lawyers, business people, and maybe even some politicians, take a line every so often? Who knows?” he said. 

“I wish this was an isolated (and a tragic one) case… but it isn’t,” musician Alex Vella Gregory said.

“A lack of enforcement, infrastructure that only favours cars, a lack of education, collective anger, and frustration that erupts on the road,” he said. 

He called on Transport Malta to stop “wasting time” clamping down on unlicensed scooters and to instead have a look around and look at the problems present.

Do you think something could have been done to avoid this death?