As Road Safety Week gets underway across the UK, ASCERT, Northern Ireland\u2019s leading alcohol, drug-related and mental health charity, is reminding everyone that the safest choice behind the wheel is to never drink and drive.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Road Safety Week theme,\u00a0\u201cSafe vehicles save lives,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0highlights how well-maintained vehicles and responsible driving are key to preventing crashes on our roads. Every year, lives are lost and families are changed forever due to avoidable collisions, and alcohol remains a significant factor in many of them.<\/p>\n According to the Northern Ireland Road Safety Strategy (NIRSS) to 2030 Annual Statistical Report,\u00a069 people were killed on Northern Ireland\u2019s roads in 2024<\/strong>. Of these,\u00a016 fatalities happened in crashes where alcohol or drugs were recorded as a contributing factor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the\u00a0Department of Health\u2019s Health Survey (NI) 2022\/23<\/strong>\u00a0found that\u00a077% of adults<\/strong>\u00a0in Northern Ireland drink alcohol, with\u00a0a quarter of men<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0one in ten women<\/strong>\u00a0regularly exceeding recommended weekly limits. With alcohol such a common part of social life, ASCERT is urging everyone to plan ahead this Road Safety Week, by arranging a lift, booking a taxi, or designating a sober driver before heading out.<\/p>\n Gary McMichael, Chief Executive of ASCERT<\/strong>, said:<\/p>\n \u201cEvery life lost on our roads is a preventable tragedy. Alcohol and drugs can seriously impair your judgement, reaction times, and coordination, making even short journeys dangerous. We\u2019re asking everyone to take personal responsibility this Road Safety Week. The only safe approach is to never, ever drink and drive.\u201d<\/p>\n ASCERT provides a range of\u00a0free, confidential services<\/strong>\u00a0to support to individuals, families, and workplaces across Northern Ireland. These include alcohol and drug information, early intervention programmes, and education sessions to raise awareness about the impact of substance use on safety and wellbeing.<\/p>\n McMichael added:<\/p>\n \u201cAt ASCERT, we\u2019re committed to creating a society where people are protected from the harm caused by alcohol and drugs. Road safety starts with each of us making safer choices, for ourselves, our passengers, and everyone sharing the road.\u201d<\/p>\n Road Safety Week is coordinated nationally by Brake, the road safety charity, and supported locally by ASCERT and other organisations working to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Northern Ireland\u2019s roads. Together, their message is clear:\u00a0safe vehicles and sober drivers save lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n For more information on ASCERT\u2019s services or to arrange an alcohol awareness session for your workplace, visit\u00a0www.ascert.biz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Road Safety Week gets underway across the UK, ASCERT, Northern Ireland\u2019s leading alcohol, drug-related and mental health charity, is reminding everyone that the safest choice behind the wheel is to never drink and drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4915,"featured_media":77264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[272],"tags":[445,444],"class_list":["post-77263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-drink-drug-driving","tag-road-safety-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserva.inicodigital.com\/maina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}