It is with great interest that I read John B. Mansueto's letter (September 23) about crash barriers. I am glad that at last somebody is drawing the attention of the authorities to this dangerous situation.

On August 9, 2005, after two fatal accidents that occurred on our roads, I had written a similar letter to The Times which was duly published. More than a year has passed and the situation, as ably described by Mr Mansueto, is still the same. Mr Mansueto mentioned only Tal-Barrani Road but most of our dual carriageways are not protected by any kind of crash barrier.

This I would say is contrary to what can be seen once we cross over to the continent where all such roads have crash barriers on the centre strip as well as on both sides of the road. Recently we were told that Malta has the lowest rate of fatalities on the road. I do not think we should say "well done Malta".

Should we rest on our laurels? When crash barriers are installed on our dual carriageways I will feel a lot safer and our fatalities will surely decrease as most of our fatal accidents happen when drivers lose control of their vehicles and end up on the opposite carriageway.

The installation of crash barriers should be the top priority of our authorities. Landscaping our roads, planting trees and flowers in our roundabouts and other embellishments are nice to look at but I am sure the authorities will agree that safety on the roads should come first. A year ago I finished my letter by appealing to other readers to start a campaign on the issue. Unfortunately, no one followed my advice until Mr Mansueto did so. Let us put pressure on the decision makers to make our roads as safe as possible. I think we deserve this.