I refer to the article ‘How many more road deaths can we tolerate?’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, September 17).

The article gives the impression that road death rates in Malta are climbing alarmingly. Such an argument was used to justify the introduction of new fines and a negative points system for road licence holders.

I would like to point out that the rates of road vehicle accidents causing grievous injury and death, taken together, have remained stable over the past five years (308 in 2012, 283 in 2013, 302 in 2014, 317 in 2015 and 316 in 2016). This is despite the fact that the number of cars on our roads is increasing every year. The report ignored crucial information, such as the fact that we already have the lowest national speed limits in the world and are among Europe’s safest drivers, according to Europe-wide statistics. By focusing on the least reliable statistic (i.e. the raw number of deaths per annum) the reality of this trend has been hidden from the reader.

I would also like to comment on the front page article in the same issue of the newspaper, entitled ‘Public sector sees three times more sick leave’. The rate of sick leave per employee in the private sector was quoted as being 2.5 days per year, although it was admitted that this estimate excluded sick leave lasting less than four days.

One cannot argue in favour of a disincentive for the first day of sickness with data which does not measure utilisation of sick leave from the first day. Better data is indeed available. The average sick leave per employee per annum in the local private sector is closer to seven days, as I reported in a paper published in BMC Family Practice in 2003, with about 2.4 episodes per annum with an average duration of three days each overall.

However, there is considerable variation in sickness utilisation rates between blue collar and white collar workers, and this must also be taken into account.