Motorist cut free

The accident occurred near the Halfway House around 4pm on January 16.

A man and woman, both drivers of the cars involved, sustained injuries which are not thought to be life threatening.

A Fire and Rescue Service statement said: “Crews from Banbridge, Dromore and Lurgan attended a collision on the main A1 dual carriageway near the Halfway House between Banbridge and Dromore.

“Two cars were involved and cutting gear had to be used to free one of the casualties while another was removed prior to the arrival of NIFRS resources”.

Banbridge PSNI were also in attendance and said: “The collision, involving two cars, occurred around 4pm. The drivers of each car, a male and female, sustained injuries which are not life threatening”.

The collision occurred amidst appeals from Banbridge PSNI for motorists to reduce their speed: “There are still road traffic collisions happening in the area. Please be careful on the roads and reduce your speed. There has been a vast increase in road traffic collisions in Northern Ireland and one way of reducing this is by lowering your speed giving you more time to react, and also be aware of weather and road conditions”.

The NIFRS has attended 25 road traffic collisions between January 1 and January 13. At these there were four fatalities, 47 casualties and 35 people rescued from their vehicles.

Dale Ashford, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, said: “Unfortunately we witness first-hand the carnage and devastation caused by a road traffic collision.

Our role is to stabilise vehicles and rescue people trapped so they can receive urgent medical attention and this is why we work closely with our road safety partners, Department of the Environment Road Safety, the Police and Ambulance Service on initiatives to help improve road user behaviour.

“By improving our driving habits we can reduce the number of road traffic collisions occurring and consequently reduce the number of deaths and injuries.

“We all have a responsibility for road safety and we must do all we can to ease the pain, loss and suffering to individuals, families and communities caused by traffic collisions.”

Police are appealing to anyone who witnessed the collision to contact them in Banbridge on 0845 600 8000.