YAKIMA -- Six months after the state Department of Transportation installed cable barriers in Yakima and the Tri-Cities, the metal strands are being called a success, and more barriers are expected to come up this summer.

The Washington State Patrol and the DOT report the cable barriers have helped save lives here Yakima and the Tri-Cities.

That's not the same case, however, elsewhere in the state.

The cable barriers failed and caused a fiery crash in Marysville along Interstate 5 in 2004.

John Hoschen's daughter died. His wife and other child had brain injuries.

Instead of slamming into concrete barriers, the cables are meant to get cars tangled into them. But on the I-5 Marysville stretch, cars kept sliding underneath the wires and into on-coming traffic.

The cables failed 20 times in 8 years near Marysville, according to KIMA's sister station in Seattle.

The Governor finally stepped in and ordered the barriers out.

The state believes the barriers are a better choice to keep drivers alive.

Only 16% of drivers get hurt crashing into the barriers versus 42% who get hurt hitting concrete or guardrails.

In Yakima and the Tri-Cities, the DOT installed about 10 miles of cable barriers.

Since then troopers said they've seen fewer cars careen into oncoming traffic.

According to the DOT, five cars hit the barriers on I-82 in Yakima, and none of them ended up in the other lanes.

No cars have crashed into the barriers in Pasco and US-12.

Across the state, barriers stopped 95% of crashes from crossing the median when the cars have hit the metal wires. The DOT also reports there's about a 75% drop in actual cross-over accidents in the state.

"It's better than nothing," said Yakima driver Rickey Hardy. "But it's not the best."

"I wouldn't want to hit either, but I would probably prefer concrete," Gary Cooley said.

Maybe those stats will help convince those drivers, especially since the DOT plans to install more barriers this summer.

Near Benton City on I-82, about 3.5 miles of cable barrier will go up. In Yakima between the Yakima training center and Selah, about 4 miles will go up and near Cle Elum on Interstate 90, one mile of wire will be installed.

In June, the DOT plans to come out with a final report on the number of crashes into cable barriers, how they've have saved lives and how much repairs cost in Yakima and the Tri-Cities.