Teen Road Victim Named

The teenage victim of last night's fatal Co Down road accident has been named.

Just 19-years-of-age, she was Danielle Houston from the Kinallen area.

It is believed the victim was the driver of the only vehicle involved in the first of two overnight Irish road fatalities.

It happened on the Katesbridge Road near Banbridge and was reported at about 7.30pm on Wednesday.

The PSNI have appealed for anyone with information concerning the incident to contact them.

Across the border, a 21-year-old man has also died and another man has been seriously injured in a road crash in Co Galway.

They were in a car which went into a ditch at Knockcloe off the main Galway to Tuam road at around 11.45pm last night.

Both men were taken to Galway University Hospital.

No other vehicle was involved and the road was closed as gardaí investigated the incident last night.

In a road safety-related development yesterday, the newly installed Stormont Environment Minister, Edwin Poots issued a fresh warning over drink-driving.

He insisted that motorists who decide to take an alcoholic drink could also end up paying with their lives.

The Minister was commenting at the launch of a new hard-hitting road safety advert.

Mr Poots said: "This new road safety campaign reinforces the need for motorists to 'Never, ever drink and drive'.

"It stresses the impairing effects of alcohol on driving - even from the first drink with the advert designed to increase further the unacceptability of driving even after one drink, especially for younger males."

The 'Hit Home' television advert is running from 1 July to 31 August 2009, supporting the joint DOE/PSNI Summer anti drink drive campaign.

The Minister added: "My Department has for many years worked hard to convince road users not to take any drink at all before driving.

"The research is clear, impairment increases with every drink and the risk of a collision increases with every drink.

"Alcohol reaches the brain within minutes of the first sip, and immediately begins progressively damaging the complex skills needed to drive safely.

"The skills most critical for driving - the brain's ability to observe, interpret and process information from the eyes and other senses - are impaired by alcohol even at the lowest levels," he insisted.

Last year there were 18 deaths and 121 seriously injured casualties due to drink/drug related driving, accounting for around 17% of all road deaths and over 12% of the serious injuries.

In April the DOE launched a consultation seeking views on different options including reducing the limit to 50 milligrammes and introducing a lower limit of 20 milligrammes for novice and professional drivers.

(BMcC/JM)