Every one of the 67 people who perished on the roads over the past year had stories and many were undoubtedly shared among the thousands of family and friends mourning them.
Seven people died on the roads in just the seven days to Christmas Eve.
For Laura Davis, one story is remembering how her cousin Anthony looked after their Uncle Seamus, how he cared for the man in his later years and was there when he died.
Anthony Atkins performed CPR for 40 minutes as his uncle suffered a heart seizure, the last of several.
Anthony thought he could save him, had done so before, but Seamus died. The death, five years ago, affected him badly, Laura says.
Shortly after midnight on November 1, on a pitch black night on a border road near Culloville in south Armagh, Anthony was struck by a car and killed instantly.
Anthony Atkins is one of 67 people who have died in road traffic accidents in Northern Ireland this year. It is slightly less than the number at the same time last year but still a higher number than other recent years.
At least four others from the north were killed in accidents across the border, among the 171 fatalities in the south.
Anthony was known as Cookie and grew up in Birmingham but with strong family roots in south Armagh and Monaghan, in the Annaghad area. Members of the family often moved between the Midlands city and their rural Irish homeland.
The 36-year-old had lived in the area for about 10 years. He was a carer for Seamus Costello, his uncle. Laura says that back in 2019 Anthony tried to save his uncle’s life as they waited for an ambulance.
“Seamus used to have seizures and Anthony was convinced he could bring him back,” says Laura.
“He tried to save his life. It really took an effect, that was when he started really drinking and let himself become something of a recluse.”
“We wanted him to come to Birmingham so we could look after him but he said Ireland was his life,” Laura says, but adding many in the community around Culloville and Annaghad looked after him.
From the age of 15, Anthony lived with either Laura or her sister. He was there when all their children, nine between them, were born.
“He was a big part of their lives and always did everything the kids wanted ” remembers Laura. “He was loved and will be sorely missed.”
Anthony died on November 1. The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust helped return his body home for his funeral at the Corpus Christ Church in the Stechford area of Birmingham.
Anthony was one of eight pedestrians killed on the roads this year, the latest Ned Hughes in Dungannon and Newry man Dominic McGrath who died after being struck by a bus in the centre of the city.
The number of pedestrians to die is lower than in recent years, with 18 losing their lives last year.
Deaths on the roads this year are among the highest of recent times, certainly far more than the record low of 48 in 2012 and a figure hovering in the mid-50s more recently.
Isaac Roxborough was the youngest to die, at 14 the only victim aged 16 or under. The year has seen a rise in the number of older people losing their lives, with 19 dying.
Close to 900 people suffered serious injury, which includes fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushing, burns, severe cuts and severe general shock requiring medical treatment. The total over the last 10 years is close to 9,000.
It is likely little comfort to those who lost loved ones or suffered life changing injuries but the historical record reveals the number of deaths has decreased significantly beginning in 2010 when before over 100 people died every year. Fifty years ago, that number was 300.
This was the year it was finally announced work will start on upgrading the deadly A5, only for another legal challenge to be launched against a project in the works since 2007.
Pupils and staff of St Ciaran’s College gathered in late April to highlight their support for the upgrade and remember those who died on the road over the 17 years, including many with connections to the Ballygawley school. They carried 54 crosses.
Tragically, it was 56 less than 48 hours later as a pupil who was at the gathering, 17-year-old Kamile Vaicikonyte, and her boyfriend Jamie Moore (19) died on the road.
Teacher Pascal Canavan, in an address at the gathering, said: “To list names and quote statistics does not do justice to the loss that is felt by families.
“Regardless of first anniversaries or 31st anniversary, the impact of grief remains.”
Debbie Mullan knows as her 17-year-old son Keelan was killed when he crashed into a tractor on a rural road near his home over a decade ago.
Her son was killed instantly when he crashed on suspected black ice as he drove to their local town to buy a loaf of bread.
“I saw a police car coming into the drive and it came to a stop just beside our patio doors. I still can’t hear the words, I just see the faces of the two police officers,” said Ms Mullan, of the Life After group and member of the North West Road Safety Partnership.
Ms Mullan shared her story in November to help promote the Department for Infrastructure’s Share the Road to Zero campaign.
“I never want any other parent to experience what I have experienced,” she said. “Wherever your journey is, I want you to drive so that you arrive, that you are alive, that your parents are not going to have that knock on the door.”