Police, firefighters, paramedics and SES volunteers are helping to promote the In Your Hands campaign during the festive season.

State Emergency Services northern regional manager Mhairi Bradley said SES volunteers could “almost predict” when crashes would occur.

“That first flush of rain, and it happens every few months,” she said.

“The roads have dried and the road’s liquid oil and you can guarantee that the pagers are going to go off and people are going to come off the road.

“Our police service has done a great job around campaigning in relation to driver attention and safety around not drinking and driving and they do a great job at that, but I think they would support me in saying that we still see accidents that occur due to that.”

Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Glenn Frame said, in an ideal world, there wouldn’t be any road deaths.

“Unfortunately, the world isn’t ideal,” he said. 

“Our role is to keep our roads safe by making sure those who don’t stick to the rules are held to account. Every road user has a responsibility to stick to the rules. Those who don’t, endanger their life and those of others.”

Assistant Commissioner Frame said it was better to arrive late rather than not at all.

“Together, we can make this Christmas fatality-free. And police will not have to do the worst part of their job.”

Ms Bradley said road crash rescue was a difficult job for SES volunteers, who worked on the frontline within their own communities.

“They do it out of the good of their hearts for the community. It’s a really hard job for our volunteers and we also want to make sure we’re doing something that’s about prevention of road crash rescue, not just about response.

“We’re really grateful to The Examiner for doing this campaign.”