A crash barrier assembly has a plurality of prismatic, solid structural elements, at least one of the elements having a shoulder forming a horizontal surface on at least one of its sides, and another element having substantially matching surfaces on at least one of its sides so as to facilitate juxtaposing of the elements. A coupler resiliently interconnects the elements to each other in a manner facilitating relative controlled movement along the horizontal surface of the one element with respect to the other about the coupler. A method for erecting a crash barrier is also provided.