Coulter urges caution on Constituency’s Roads
Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has said everyone in the community has a responsibility to keep the constituency’s roads safe.
Rev Dr Coulter made his appeal to coincide with the start of the new school year when thousands of pupils and adults will be on the move across North Antrim and the constituency will see a large increase in the volume of traffic.
The UUP Health Spokesman also called on the community to support the “excellent advice” being provided by the police on road safety.
Rev Dr Coulter also praised the work being done by the Environment Minister Arlene Foster and her department in trying to cut the carnage on Northern Ireland’s roads.
He added: “Across our Province, the roads are claiming victim after victim. Such is the toll of carnage on our roads that we must not become side-tracked by any temptation to point the finger of guilt and indulge in the blame game.
“The hard fact is that the death rate on our roads is beginning to spiral out of control and it will require a collective effort by the entire community to put an effective end to this carnage. It must be a total end, not a reduction to an acceptable level of death, because all deaths on the roads can be prevented in one way or another.
“This places a moral responsibility on all of us in the North Antrim constituency, whether driver, cyclist, motor-cyclist or pedestrian, to do all in our power to combat the carnage on our roads, and especially now that the new school term has begun.
“The police and other organisations have been to the fore in making appeals for people to exercise greater care on our roads. We, as a community, need to give our full support to these campaigns.
“”I would also applaud those schools in our constituency which have integrated road safety as part of the curriculum. Indeed, numerous youth organisations have also been instructing their members about the vital importance of care on the roads.
“And it is not just the young people who need to fully understand the dangers on the road; adults, too, need to ensure they exercise proper care when using the roads.
“We should also remember the victims’ families who are left to grieve because of the tragedies of the present carnage on our roads over the years.
“As a community, we should also not forget the families of road victims in North Antrim over the generations who still live with the pain and memory of these terrible events.
“Whilst every death on the road is totally regrettable, I appeal to the local community to really concentrate when they are using the local roads so that North Antrim never gains the terrible tag of the constituency of carnage” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.