Ch Supt Norman Haslett urged drivers to think about their behaviour on the roads after the scale of fatalities on roads in Northern Ireland was described by a senior police officer as "carnage". The number of people who have died on Northern Ireland's roads so far this year has reached 42, which Ch Supt Norman Haslett said would mean around one person has died every five days.
A day of action, involving Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) checkpoints and road surveillance, took place on Tuesday across border counties. That included the PSNI's south area, which is comprised of the policing districts of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon, Fermanagh and Omagh, Mid Ulster and Newry, Mourne and Down.
While NI was filming at a checkpoint on the Cullaville Road, close to the border, south of Crossmaglen, a car which was stopped and searched was found to have a stash of suspected cannabis.
Police also revealed on Tuesday that last week, one driver was arrested in the south area speeding at 140mph without wearing a seatbelt.
What did Ch Supt Norman Haslett say about the figures?
Haslett called the statistics appalling and described the devastation to family and friends as immeasurable.
"I don't use the word carnage lightly," he said.
"Once every five days, police officers are knocking on doors of homes to tell people that their loved ones aren't coming home."
The chief superintendent also said that if 42 people died in other circumstances there would be "public outcry".
"Clearly people aren't listening," he said, adding: "We can't arrest our way out of fatalities."
Nearly half of the road deaths this year happened in the south area.
What did he urge drivers to do?
Haslett urged drivers to "think about their own behaviour, their safety and the safety of others on the road".
"People using drugs and driving should never be normal, even if police discovering substances has become normalised."
Speaking about the 140mph incident, Haslett called it "frightening" and said the force are seeing these speeds "quite frequently".
