Once more Jean Karl Soler defies logic in a bizarre letter (‘Road vehicle accidents’, The Sunday Times of Malta, October 15) which renders a disservice to the interests of road safety.

On the basis that “rates of road vehicle accidents causing grievous injury and death have remained stable over the past five years”, Dr Soler persists in implying that the lives of people who die in traffic accidents on our roads (including children) are expendable and are therefore to be taken for granted and that the disrupted lives of those who are severely injured is also of no consequence.

The explicit message in my letter of October 8 to which Dr Soler responded was clear: “One death on the road is one death too many”. It was conveniently ignored. This message is in line with Swedish philosophy of ‘Vision Zero’ as summarised in six simple words: “No loss of life is acceptable”. This is an absolute truism against which there is no dispute.

Any argument which does not respect this principle is utterly unacceptable, repetitious and futile. Malta has no motorways and trip distances are short, speed is therefore not an issue in our small country.  As already pointed out, Malta’s urban speed limit of 50 km/h is way too high.