"There's no excuses"- Norfolk emergency services urge against drink & drug driving this Christmas
Local data shows crashes and collisions that involve alcohol and drugs tend to increase during the Christmas period
Norfolk's emergency services are urging us not to drink or take drugs before driving this Christmas.
Local data shows there tends to be a spike in crashes and collisions this time of year, with people going out to celebrate more.
To emphasise how dangerous and serious this can be, they staged a ‘mock’ road traffic collision outside Sprowston Fire Station on Friday morning.
Dale Meacham is from the East of England Ambulance Service.
He says these avoidable incidents draws them away from people who are fighting for their lives: "If they weren't drink and drug driving then they wouldn't have created that situation in the first place. All of the services who would be responding to that, and all of the the personnel being taken away from their primary roles would not be needed.
"Therefore we as an Ambulance Service we would be attending those people who really did need our help and have medical emergencies."
Terry Pinto is from Norfolk Fire and Rescue. He says attending these incidents can be very traumatic: "It puts a burden on all emergency responders. You're often confronted with scenes that will never leave you, that will always play on your mind. We want to do our bit to make our community safe, but also reduce the number of times that our staff are confronted with these things."
Sergeant Peter Howlett is from Norfolk Police: "If somebody has loss their life four or five hour at a scene is not uncommon. Then I have to deploy officers to people's homes to knock on their door and tell them their loved one has either been seriously injured or killed.
"It doesn't happen during the day, it typically happens at 1 or 2 o clock in the morning. Then, we might struggle to identify who that person is, sometimes they've taken somebody's car or don't have ID with them."
He concluded by saying that if people see anything worrying or suspicious, they should get in touch as soon as possible: "We do get reports from members of the public who are following other vehicles weaving all over the road. We get calls from people in pubs and clubs and from concerned family members. If you have a concern about somebody call 999.
"If it's an innocent call made with the best intentions there's no problems with that at all, we'd rather have that intervention and realise there's nothing for us to do".
Darryl Preston, Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “As a former police officer I have dealt with far too many serious injury and fatal incidents on our roads – and having to deliver that painful message to loved ones was always, for me, the hardest job in policing.
"This year I spoke at length to a mother whose daughter was tragically killed by a drink-driver and I want to be clear – driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is completely unacceptable.
"Those who choose to take drugs or drink and drive are not only endangering themselves but are also risking the lives of others around them.”