Steering around the festive season potholes

And it’s not over yet.

New Year’s Eve is fast approaching and most will barely have enough time to recover from the aforementioned before draining the battery again heralding in a new year of hope and opportunity.

But, some do not survive the holidays.

There have been 828 major crashes on NSW roads since Operation Arrive Alive began on December 18.

Eleven lives have been lost to families who will never see them again.

As of Sunday afternoon, Wagga Highway Patrol has arrested 20 people with drink-driving from 8000 random breath tests. 

They have handed out tickets to 108 people for speeding, 10 for seat belt offences and 178 other offences, including driving while using a mobile phone.

For most of the year the majority of us would bash our keyboards and tell the world it’s just revenue raising. 

But at this time of the year it’s anything but.

There are people driving in unfamiliar places, or under different levels of stress and fatigue.

And yet drivers still flaunt the rules and, as a result, some suffer fatal consequences.

Of course, everyone thinks they are the perfect driver and it’s every one else making life-threatening mistakes and causing accidents on our roads.

The message gets thrown out so much in various media that it might be nothing but white noise to the ignorant around us.

But it should be read loud and clear – our mistakes on the road are costing us lives.

If you need to travel at this time of the year, please take all the precautions necessary to protect you and your family from heartache.

Take a rest every couple of hours. Even a quick run to the toilet and a jog around the car a couple of times can blast the tiredness away.

Know your limits and understand others around you might not be as skilled in certain aspects of driving – a public road is not a raceway where everyone may be of a similar driving ability.

Let’s all survive the silly season.