Questions are being raised about the lack of a crash barrier at the Headington end of Oxford's Eastern Bypass after Saturday's catastrophic crash - and rightly so.

A previous attempt to get one at this point fell on deaf ears.

Adrian Bull led a campaign for action after he was paralysed in an accident on this stretch of the ring road in 2000, but nothing happened.

The county council said the case was not strong enough. In other words, someone had to die before anything was done.

Saturday's crash, which left four dead and five critically injured, has shown how vital it is that barriers are fitted on fast roads of this kind.

While a barrier might not have prevented people in the Citroen Xsara being killed and injured as it veered out of control, it might have prevented the car crossing to the other carriageway, causing the death of an oncoming driver and injuring others.

We accept it is easy to be wise after the event. But too often, we act after disasters have happened rather than try to prevent them.

We hope that as a matter of urgency, barriers are put up at Headington to prevent a repetition of this terrible incident.

Councillors are said to be considering them. Can't we, for once, have an instant decision?