THE MINISTER of Transport and Aviation has urged drivers to be aware of the risks associated with dangerous driving after two serious traffic accidents in New Providence on Thursday led to two deaths and four people being detained in hospital, two men with critical injuries.

Glenys Hanna Martin pleaded on Friday for people in cars to be aware of distracted or dangerous driving, the dangers of excessive speed and urged the use of seatbelts.

On Thursday night, a teenaged male driver and a female passenger died after they were ejected from a Nissan car which reportedly crashed into a utility pole while travelling south on New Providence Highway around 7pm. Police reported that the driver lost control of the car, which contained four people, and that two other female passengers were taken to hospital. The man and woman were pronounced dead on the road at the scene.

Earlier in the afternoon, two men were taken to hospital with "very critical" injuries after the car in which they were travelling crashed into a utility pole on John F Kennedy Drive. Police reported that both had been thrown from the vehicle. They believed the driver lost control after hitting a kerb and neither man was said to have been wearing a seatbelt.

Mrs Hanna Martin, in a statement on Friday, said: "Yesterday two very serious accidents occurred on the streets of New Providence causing serious injury and death along with the inevitable grief, pain and suffering.

"Again I urge all of our people to have a heightened awareness of the risks associated with distracted or dangerous driving. I wish to emphasise and reiterate the potential life-saving importance of using seatbelts.

"Please let us inform ourselves as to the deadly dangers associated with excessive speed; of particular concern is our young drivers especially as we approach the Summer months.

"Preventing serious traffic accidents requires all of us in the community to educate ourselves on the hard facts associated with these tragic and terrible events. We must each as concerned citizens advocate for safe behaviours on our streets and we must seek to protect each other and ourselves from harm when we use our roads.

"I wish to extend heartfelt condolences to the families of those young people that died. I am praying for a full recovery of the injured."