Pictures of burnt-out cars, vehicles slammed into trees and injured people being loaded into the back of ambulances are the last thing any of us want to imagine.

Sadly, that is the tragic reality for too many families across every Christmas and New Year break.

But spare a thought for those people who cannot turn away when the images get too real, those people whose job it is to bear witness to the worst of the horrors on our roads.

Paramedics, police officers and firefighters are subjected to horrors well beyond the sanitised images we are fed through mainstream media.

They are the people who, during any shift, can be called to scenes of trauma and bloodshed that can never be unseen.

So when they speak out about how those images affect them – as they’ve had to do all-too often – it is up to all of us to take on board that message.

Because we can all do our bit to help make our roads safer and to make their shifts at work less horrific.

And it’s nothing new – it’s a message police have been trying to get through for years: Fatigue, inattention, speed and stupidity can all cause fatal crashes.

It’s the same story every day of the year, but Christmas and the summer holidays bring their own added risks.

Roads are busy and drivers may attempt to push through fatigue or dangerous conditions in a bid to get to their destination just that little bit sooner.

Every holiday period there are stories about drivers being arrested for travelling at high speed or when they were well over the drink-driving limit.

The question has been posed time and again, yet police, paramedics and firefighters are still left asking: Was it worth your life?

Would arriving just a few minutes later have really mattered that much?

Every year, families across Australia are left to deal with the heartbreaking reality of having lost a loved one – or loved ones – over the Christmas and New Year break.

While most families are celebrating, they are left grieving – and that terrible grieving will return for them every Christmas and New Year to come. Taking risks on the road is simply never worth it.