The Christmas holiday period is off to the worst possible start with five people killed on our roads on the opening weekend.

There have been five separate fatal crashes at Mount Druitt, North St Marys, Yeoval, Barellan and Cowper.

Chief Inspector Phil Brooks from the NSW Traffic and Highway Patrol Command talks to Chris Smith, urging drivers to take care.

“Speed, fatigue and possibly other factors such as drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt are all potential issues in those very sad and tragic events this close to Christmas.

“This is a very high-risk time for fatigue driving when we’ve got families trying to do Sydney to Brisbane or Sydney to Melbourne in one hit.”

The Christmas road safety blitz kicked off on Friday with hundreds of extra police on our roads targeting dangerous drivers.

Key statistics (cumulative total):

• Total infringements issued: 2,045
• Speed infringements: 1,742
• Breath tests: 42,223
• Drink-driving charges: 50
• Major crashes: 80
• Lives lost: 5

Click PLAY to hear the full interview