Two people tragically lost their lives due to road accidents last week.

The first was accident saw a man die in a traffic accident in Zebbug in a horrific collision with another vehicle. The second person to die was a woman who was hit by a car in Floriana. She died a couple of days after the accident in hospital, the police said Saturday.

They join others who passed away due to road accidents, such as a biker who lost control of the Honda bike he was riding and crashed into a bollard that separates the road from the pavement. He tragically died earlier this month.

Earlier this year, a new Roads Policing Unit was set up within the Malta Police Force in order to enforce traffic rules and investigate major road accidents. It will undoubtedly be investigating all the aforementioned accidents.

The unit will hopefully be able to highlight whether any infrastructural or other safety measures could be made to improve safety. Malta's roads need to be made safer. But this entails action being taken from multiple angles.

Firstly, there is the aspect of improving road infrastructure to make it safer. Transport Minister Chris Bonett, in response to a Parliamentary Question Ivan Bartolo regarding crash barriers, said that while these barriers conform with safety standards, an exercise is underway to establish how they can be improved. This is an exercise worth carrying out, as making crash barriers safer for motorcyclists and vehicles could help prevent injuries and fatalities in car accidents.

Aside from this, the introduction of speed bumps or speed cameras on certain roads could help prevent speeding, for instance.

Education is also an important factor when it comes to improving road safety. More campaigns to educate drivers on safe practices are needed. Far too often do people cut lanes in tunnels or wrongly on roundabouts, drive while looking at their phone, don't use indicators, swerve through traffic at speed. These are all accidents waiting to happen.

Then there is the road enforcement aspect of things. Earlier this year, the police said that by mid February it had issued 750 speeding tickets since the start of the year. A high number, and a good show that enforcement is taking place. These undoubtedly mainly came from planned operations. One must stress the need to keep up such enforcement action, but it is worth pointing out however, that one does not see as many police on the roads as one would like when operations are not taking place.

With the summer head upon us, tempers are bound to flare in traffic. Keeping level-headed is a must. Every risk taken on the road could mean a life is ruined.