I would like to respond to Not A Gullible Consumer's letter entitled Car buyers shortchanged on safety .

I agree, it is indefensible to produce and sell new cars that are not fitted with air bags as they have proved to be life savers when involved in an accident.

However, as a foreigner living in Malaysia, I am more appalled at the state of some of the vehicles on the roads and bad driving habits, which in my view, are far more dangerous than driving a car without an air bag.

I am constantly amazed at the condition of some of the cars I see on the roads around Kuala Lumpur almost every day. Some appear to be held together be the paint-work alone as the bodywork is just a rusty hulk.

Many have totally ineffective rear lights, if any at all. All too often, these cars are driven totally recklessly, usually with an entire family inside including very young children standing at the passenger's feet with their noses on the dashboard - surely a suicidal practice.

I am also convinced that most drivers fear to use those strange orange lights to signal that they plan to change lanes or take an exit. They fear that using these indicators will cost them large amounts of money and as such they are rarely used.

I also feel that the government could save millions of ringgit if they stopped the convention of installing traffic lights. Since large numbers of drivers - and, of course, motorcyclists - ignore them totally, they are just an expensive decoration that surely could be removed.

I apologise for my obvious cynicism, but coming from a country where road discipline is much higher, I am sad at the poor road discipline here in Malaysia.

Enforcement of existing road traffic regulations is a major problem and until the traffic police are able (and willing) to patrol and apprehend offenders, people will naturally ignore most well-meaning traffic laws.