The Minister said: “Christmas is a time for celebrations, a time to meet together with relations and friends to enjoy the festive spirit. But there will be little cause for celebration in the homes of the six people who so tragically lost their lives over the weekend. My heart goes out to each and every family who today must be utterly devastated.”
She also said that she would not wish to speculate on the causes of any of the collisions and added: “I would appeal to all road users to consider the trauma and pain that those families must be experiencing at this time. All road users should take a moment to reflect on the weekend carnage. Everyone should consider whether there is anything that they can do to ensure that their family will not be grieving this Christmas.”
The Minister emphasised that collisions do not just happen – they have a cause and most are caused by road users making errors of judgement or simply ignoring the law. She said: “Road users must refrain from taking any alcohol if they intend to drive - even one drink will impair your driving. As I travel to work every day I see many people driving too fast, especially on wet roads, not wearing seat belts and using mobile phones. Unless drivers take a long hard look at their driving behaviour there could be further grieving families this Christmas.
“Looking ahead, in the New Year I shall be announcing a number of proposals to further strengthen road safety arising from my review of the Road Safety Strategy”.
Notes to Editors:
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