Road deaths: Three tragedies, but their message is the same - the grieving mother, the lucky survivor and the road safety chief

Road safety chief Superintendent Steve Greally, Jade Beale, who survived a horrific crash, and Ryan Gibbons, who died when his car plunged off a cliff. Photos/ Supplied

•THE SURVIVOR'S STORY: 'I punctured my lung, knocked my heart and my stomach was twisted to the side'

•THE MOTHER'S STORY: 'This is every parent's worst nightmare'

•THE POLICE CHIEF'S STORY: 'I still remember the first time I had to tell someone their loved one wasn't coming home'

•INTERACTIVE: Map of 2015 NZ road crashes

Christmas and New Year are a time to celebrate, to enjoy family, friends - and inevitably far too much food. It's a time for holidays, adventures and great Kiwi road trips. But by the end of the festive season, hundreds of lives will be changed as a result of road crashes.

Last year, 16 people died over the period. A further 345 were injured, 78 of them with serious and initially life-threatening injuries. This year's road toll stands at 312.

The Ministry of Transport puts the provisional social cost of road crashes for the first six months of 2015 at $1.74 billion. As motorists head off to be with their loved ones for Christmas, the Herald speaks to people who have been hit by summer road crashes.

The mother who grieves for her son every day and is about to mark the fifth anniversary of his death, the sisters who had to be cut out of their mangled car after a crash caused by a texting driver and who are still battling their injuries, the cop tasked with keeping all of us safe on the roads.

They all have a different story to tell, but their message is the same.

The lucky survivor: 'I punctured my lung, knocked my heart and my stomach was twisted to the side'

Jade Beale recovers in hospital in late 2011. Photo / Supplied

Sisters Jade and Renee spent a month in hospital, including Christmas and New Year, after a head-on crash caused by a woman texting as she drove in 2011.

The other driver died, and four years on, the sisters' recovery is far from over. Jade Beale hopes talking about their ordeal will help reduce injury and fatal crashes, especially in the festive season.

The Tokoroa sisters and their friend were driving home from a day of Christmas shopping in Hamilton when a car crossed the centreline and ploughed into their Nissan.

The woman driving the other car was Hamilton mother-of-one Paula Jessep, who would have turned 38 just after Christmas that year. Police found Ms Jessep had been having a text conversation, sending and receiving messages at the time of the crash.

The Beale sisters suffered severe injuries and were lucky to survive.

"My sister, who was driving, had to be cut out of the car," Jade, now 28, told the Herald from Beijing, where she lives.

Sisters Jade and Renee Beale were cut out of the car. Photo / Supplied

"She had a complete leg reconstruction as her femur was split in half, crushing her knee cap and snapping her shin. She also broke two bones in her arm, a rib, her sternum, nose, toes, lost a tooth and gained lots of facial bruising.

"Renee had a long six hours of surgery working on her injuries - concentrating on her leg and also her nose and arm."

Jade was asleep when the crash happened. Most of her injuries were caused by her seatbelt.

"I was seated behind Renee and was also cut out of the car. I had 10 broken ribs, a broken sternum and collarbone," she said.

"I punctured my lung, knocked my heart and my stomach was twisted to the side - the muscles sheered away from the lining, so I had to have a lot of surgery to have my stomach put back together, this included removing part of my intestines and stopping internal bleeding."

Jade Beale was travelling home when she was hit by an oncoming car that had crossed the centre line due to its driver texting. Photo / Supplied

A friend, Arianna, was in the passenger seat and was showered with glass as the windscreen shattered. The rear vision mirror smashed into her face on impact.

She was discharged after two days but the sisters were not so lucky.

"We were in hospital for around a month. I was in ICU but was put in a ward with my sister for Christmas day which was really special," Jade said. "We were really lucky that our family and friends were able to come and spend time with us but it was definitely hard on everyone. The doctors and nurses were all very positive and made sure we felt as comfortable as possible."

The trio know that their story could have had a very different ending. They want people to know what it is like to survive a serious road accident.

Their lives have been changed forever and Jade and Renee especially feel the effects daily.

"We have all had ongoing injuries," Jade explained. "Arianna has a scar on her face and still pulls small bits of glass out of it. Renee has trouble with her plates in her legs and arms, especially when it is cold, and also stomach pain.

"I have had ongoing issues with my stomach and just last week had major surgery because of built-up scar tissue. My organs were squashed and my bowel was completely attached to my abdominal wall.

Jade, left, and her sister Renee, right, are visited in hospital by their sister Kristen on Christmas Day 2011.

"Injuries take a long time to heal. I thought that after an accident you would go to hospital, get treatment, home and then back to work but it is definitely not as simple," she said.

"It is a very long healing process and not something you can rush. Not only physical injuries but the emotional and spiritual. Confidence is something that takes a long time to get back.

"We are all very lucky to be alive ... We hope that speaking about our experience and spreading our message will help in some way."

After the crash, Jade set up a Facebook page to push her road safety message - don't risk fate, the text can wait ... Like we always say, it only takes a couple of seconds of inattention."

The grieving mother: 'This is every parent's worst nightmare'

Every time Karen Gibbons sees a news story about a road crash, it all comes flooding back. Her son Ryan was 19 when he was killed in a crash at Red Beach, north of Auckland, on January 5, 2011.

He'd been away for New Year with mates and was catching up with some others the night he died.

Ryan was a passenger in a car that left a road in a camping ground and went over a 25m cliff. The driver, a friend, received only minor injuries but Ryan was not wearing a seatbelt and, after suffering a fatal head injury, he was thrown 5m from the car through the back windscreen.

"I wonder where he'd be now, and what he'd be doing," Mrs Gibbons said to the Herald. "This is every parent's worst nightmare."

Ryan Gibbons was killed when the car he was in plunged 25 metres down a cliff at the Pinewoods Motor Park in Red Beach. Photo / Supplied

Mrs Gibbons found out her son was dead when police knocked on her door. "It was about 3am. There were a couple of policemen standing there and they had a photo of Ryan and they said, is this your son. I said yes. At that point you're still hoping they've been arrested or something like that ... And then they said Ryan had been killed in a car crash."

Mrs Gibbons went with her eldest son, Shane, and her ex-husband, Malcolm Gibbons, to the mortuary at Auckland City Hospital to identify Ryan.

"You're still hoping that it's not him, that it's all wrong and they have got the wrong person. But then, they lifted up the curtain and he was lying in a body bag ... that was the worst moment."

Almost five years on Mrs Gibbons' heart still aches for Ryan every day.

"I don't think it ever gets easier," she said.

For five days Ryan lay at his mother's home and hundreds of friends, family, workmates, league teammates and others filed in to say their goodbyes. One of the paramedics who attended the fatal crash was the father of another teen who played league with Ryan. One of the police officers at the door that terrible morning was a coach at the same club.

You're still hoping that it's not him, that it's all wrong and they have got the wrong person. But then, they lifted up the curtain and he was lying in a body bag ... that was the worst moment

More than 1500 people attended Ryan's funeral and his mother said many of his mates are still struggling to cope with his death.

A close friend who has been living overseas for seven years returned to Auckland this week. He didn't get home for Ryan's funeral. He was taken by some other mates up to the cliff Ryan plunged from and they sat and remembered him - and cried.

For Mrs Gibbons, the tears still come. She feels angry her son was robbed of a life. He will never get married like his brother, who recently got engaged.

He won't play for the Warriors, who were eyeing him up for a contract when he died.

But she is channelling her pain into helping others and has made it her mission to get the message through to young drivers to look after themselves and their mates.

"I've never spoken to the driver [that killed Ryan]. I hope he has learned from it, that he becomes a safe driver. I want to raise awareness of how easy it is to be in a road crash."

The road safety chief: 'I still remember the first time I had to tell someone their husband had been killed in a crash'

Superintendent Steve Greally knows from personal experience the devastating effect a crash can have.

As New Zealand's national road policing manager, he is charged with making New Zealand's roads safe. He still remembers the first time he had to tell someone their husband wasn't coming home.

"Even the most hardened cop will say there's few things worse than having to knock on someone's door to tell them a loved one isn't coming home.

"I can still remember the first time I had to knock on a lady's door to tell her that her husband had been killed in a crash. She fell to the floor, devastated, before I could catch her. Even though that was about 15 years ago, it still resonates with me today - and it never gets any easier. Sadly, our staff have to it every day.

"What motivates police officers to get out of bed every day is to prevent other families from going through the same hell caused by a crash that could have been prevented.

"That's why police and its partner agencies continue to focus on risky behaviours such as drink-driving, speeding and distraction, because these continue to kill and maim people on the roads.

"But don't take our word for it - look at the science.

"International evidence shows that for every single kilometre per hour we reduce mean speeds across the road network, there is a corresponding 3 to 5 per cent reduction in road trauma. In human terms, that's a lot of lives saved.

"The same evidence-based approach is applied to the placement of speed cameras. Cameras are placed in areas of high crash risk. This includes locations where others have been killed and injured in speed-related crashes.

She fell to the floor, devastated, before I could catch her. Even though that was about 15 years ago, it still resonates with me today - and it never gets any easier. Sadly, our staff have to it every day

"Science also tells us that drinking even small amounts of alcohol begins to impair our ability, and that it affects us all differently. That's why hospitality guidelines promoting a one-size-fits-all approach are dangerous.

"We therefore recommend playing it safe. By all means, have a few drinks and have a good time, just don't drive. The risks just aren't worth it.

"With the horror run of road deaths from the weekend of December 12 still raw in our minds, it's a reminder that police can't be everywhere " nor can we do it alone. Everyone on the roads this summer must do their part too.

"So, next time you're behind the wheel, please check your speed, wear your safety belt, stay off the drink and put your phone away where it can't distract you, and we'll all be a lot safer."

Interactive: Map of 2015 NZ road crashes