Anti drink drive push is a key reason why Northern Ireland roads are safer than before

For the last decade, road deaths in Northern Ireland have been at historic lows.

Annual fatalities have been far below averages compared to preceding decades.

The first year in which traffic fatalities were recorded in the province was 1931, 10 years after the foundation of NI, and for almost each of the next 80 years of yearly statistics the tragic tally of lost lives was at least 100 in any one 12-month period.

For many of those years, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, more than 200 people were killed on the roads in NI. In some years it was more than 300. In each year of the Troubles, with the exception of the most violent one, 1972, there was a higher fatality rate on the roads than in the conflict.

Yet since 2010, the number of vehicle-linked deaths has always been fewer than 100, and typically around 55 to 65.

This is despite the fact that traffic levels are far higher than they were only a few decades ago.

The slashing of death tolls is one of the best news stories in the 100-year history of Northern Ireland.

It has been brought about by a number of factors:

Improvements in car design; improvements in road design; better road marking/signage; better driver training; greater road safety awareness; more of the safest roads, motorway/dual carriageway.

But perhaps the single most significant factor in slashing deaths is stricter road laws, such as compulsory seat belts, and stricter enforcement of existing laws, such as on drink driving.

The PSNI has launched its annual winter enforcement campaign against drink or drug-driving.

Last year almost 7,000 roadside breath tests led to 280 people being arrested.

For those who were caught it will have been an upsetting experience, but nothing like as upsetting as it would be to know you had maimed or killed someone.

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