‘Roadblock Alert’: Maltese Facebook Group Created Days Before New Years To Flag Police Roadblocks
Despite several road blocks around Malta, only two drink drivers were caught and charged during New Year’s and there might be an explanation as to why.
Some people were two steps ahead of the police on the night as it appears that a private Facebook group called ‘Malta & Gozo RoadBlock Alerts‘ was created just days before the big night…
Although it is not the first of its kind, this group was created on December 28, 2019 which leads one to believe that it was created in order to notify people on the locations of roadblocks so that they could avoid them throughout the night…
…and it already has 18,000 members.
The group was set up to ‘be used as awareness against reckless driving more than anything and as a reminder to follow the rules such as wearing your seat belt and whatsoever’ and, while there are many positive posts alerting people of road accidents and advising each other to be safe, it was used extensively throughout New Year’s so that drink drivers could avoid roadblocks.
Following the night, police reported that a total of 69 people were fined on New Years with only two being charged for driving under the influence.
This a surprisingly low number and, while it could be argued that it is an accurate representation, the use of social media as a warning tool might be another explanation for why it was so low.