Joseph Bianchini was killed in a car crash near Griffith when he was 15 and his mother, Rosanne, said she cried every Christmas.

“My son loved Christmas so much, it hurts me because he’s not here to share it with us,” she said.

“It saddens me every year, I have tears because he’s not here.

“It’s really hard, it will be with me all my life and I'll die with that sadness.”

According to police, 370 people have died on NSW roads in 2016, 67 in the Riverina alone. 

“When I hear of people being killed it breaks my heart, it doesn’t matter when it happens but it’s worse around Christmas,” Mrs Bianchini said.

“It’s very sad, people shouldn’t drink or speed or touch their phone and lose concentration.

“It’s so important to instil the consequences of their driving, I think of the mother and father who have to live the rest of their lives with heartache.”

Senior Sergeant Wayne McLachlan from Wagga Highway Patrol said there was usually a spike in crashes at Christmas and he appealed for people to drive safely.

“The worst job I ever had to do was tell the family of a young girl that she was killed in a crash on Christmas Eve,” he said.

“We’re encouraging passengers to keep an eye on the driver and say something if they do the wrong thing.”

NSW Police launched the ‘Five2Arrive’ campaign for the Christmas-New Year period, with five simple tips to arrive home safely:

Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said the message to behave safely on the roads had to get through.

“Every fatality is one whole family that’s affected,” he said. “One empty place at a Christmas table.”