Surrey County Conservatives urge people to Drive SMART this Christmas (16th December)

At yesterday’s Full Council meeting Members from all Groups supported a call from Kay Hammond, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, for residents of Surrey, as well as visitors to the County, to be mindful of not drinking and driving this Christmas.

Members heard Mrs. Hammond comment on the Drive SMART campaign and on the focus that SCC and Surrey Police are giving to tackling anti-social driving. There was also a reminder to those present that SCC has banned the consumption of alcohol during working hours.

“Anti-social driving isn’t just a problem at Christmas time but it is at Christmas that some people may think ‘an extra drink or two won’t do any harm’. This is clearly wrong and as a responsible local authority we are doing what we can to reinforce the importance of not drinking and driving by investing resources in prevention and setting an example through the alcohol ban.

But it is not simply drink driving that we as a County Council wish to clamp down on. During the Drive SMART campaign we have come across several drivers who are still not wearing seatbelts and who are using handheld mobile phones whilst driving. This just goes to show that you have to keep repeating safe driving messages until people realise that irresponsible driving costs lives”.

Tony Rooth, also speaking in the debate, added: “It isn’t only drinking and driving that is a cause of accidents, but driving whilst using a mobile phone, particularly a handheld one, is responsible for a number of incidents. It is very simple to avoid as well – switch them off, and if you’ve forgotten to switch them off then don’t answer them when they ring. You can always pull over or find a car park if you really need to take a call and it is better to be late than to be ‘the late’”.

Mrs. Hammond also reminded Members that on average, nearly four people a month are killed or seriously injured on Surrey’s roads as a consequence of impaired driving.