A mother's pain

The advertisements feature two true-life accounts of road deaths - the stories of ‘Jamie’ and ‘Kevin’ as told by their devastated mothers.

Jamie Millican (21) was driving on Ballyhackett Lane, Castlerock, on March 28 last year when he was killed in a car crash.

There were no other cars involved. Jamie was a learner driver with a provisional licence and was speeding.

His mother, Elaine, still struggles to come to terms with her loss.

“Believe me, I know the heartache,” she said.

“I would never ever want a family to go through what I’ve gone through. It really hits you when you’re sitting at home at night-time on your own.

“I do a lot of breaking down on my own. Everyone’s life comes crashing down. I never realised it would affect as many people as it has,” she said.

June McChesnie, whose son Kevin (17) from Newtownbutler was a passenger in a car, driven by a teenager over the limit, was involved in a single-vehicle collision on the Newtownbutler-Clones Road in Co Fermanagh in the early hours of Saturday morning, August 2 last year. He died later from his injuries in the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen.

Mrs McChesnie said: “Don't be drinking and driving, don’t put your mother through what we’ve been through and what we’re going through, don’t ever do that. “

Launching the campaign in Belfast last week, Environment Minister, Edwin Poots said: “The devastating consequences of road collisions have far-reaching effects on family, relatives, friends, work colleagues and whole communities.

“We are privileged that these brave mothers have chosen to tell their heartbreaking story in the hope that they can prevent other families’ suffering in the same way.

“They are ordinary people like you and me. Their emotion is raw and their pain is very real. They each tell how their lives have been destroyed, in various tragic circumstances, and how road collisions have changed their lives forever.”

The adverts will run until the end of February.