Driving & daycare

Hi Laura,

I am half Maltese and have been travelling to Malta every year to see my family for the last 25 years. I was born in the U.K and have now been living in Malta for a few months.

You have nothing to worry about concerning driving in Malta.

Every year I have hired a car when visiting family and was sometimes affraid that I would have a crash but as long as you drive slowly and carefully you will have no problem.

You just have to be extra careful when cars are joining main roads as they will just pull out. Roundabouts mean nothing to the Maltese but as stated earlier you just need to drive slowly and you will be fine.

As for childcare you have many choices, An English nanny is normally best. You can then be assured that your child has alot more attention than those that are in larger groups.

I can give you details on a very good nanny if you e-mail me.

Thanks

Richard

Hi Laura,

welcome to the forum.

Driving in Malta is not really advisable for you if you are an inexperienced and nervous driver. Driving carefuly is a must as you can't count on anybody sticking to rules.

I disagree that driving slowly is the solution. This will put you at more risk as you will constantly be beeped at and have racers trying to overtake you all the time.

You have to be 'extra' careful all the time as drivers stop where they want and when they want, open car doors without looking back and any other behavour you might not expect!

I would advise you to take driving lessons in Malta even if you have a driving licence. Then you can decide whether you want to contuinue driving in Malta.

Cheers
Ricky

I would tend to agree with Ricky on this one - I am an experienced driver and have driven under many different circumstances and it does take a while to get used to the maltese style of driving....but nervous drivers and slow ones are just cannon fodder to the malti.....and heaven forbid if involved in an accident as he who shouts loudest often wins....and OMG can the Malti raise their voices.....even whispering is loud.....LOL but my advise would be to try it first but dont commit to it....even as a passenger sit in with an experienced driver would help you assess your willingness to drive here...my wife has been here nearly four years and she hates driving here as ricky says you cannot trust anyone to stick to the highway code never mind rules.....

Hi everyone,

I don't feel that not driving is the solution. I have driven in many countries around the world and Malta is a breeze compared to these.

London is worse to drive in! Try driving in Thailand people and then talk to me.... : ) !!

I do agree with the other members comments of the rules that the Maltese break. For example; pulling out, opening doors, stopping in the road ect.

Don't let this put you off though....

Just make sure you have good insurance and SMILE

Regards

Richard

Thank you very much for the info. Seems like I will be staying away from driving to start off... but looking at the brighter side of this at least I can drink more beer then. lol

love the sound of that plan.....

You might not really need to drive at the beginning... if you have all the services you need in a walking distance.

My wife (sounds like) is like you... but she got use to drive here in Malta very fast (we live in Mellieha so driving is kind of a must).. and it was also our first experience with the steering on the right side.. but we survived...

Maltese Drivers??? Well... I will say that they don't like to obey much the law (specially the parking ones) ..that is more a cultural problem I'll say.. in MY OPINION, they are selfish and if it works for them they dont care if they affect anyone else... (i.e: smoking in car with their own children in it)...that reflects in driving of course.