Deaths on NT roads hit highest level in over a decade

ABC NEWS (Australia)

An 18-year-old woman and 17-year-old boy have died in two separate crashes on NT roads over the weekend, making the death toll the highest in over a decade. Police say they're doing all they can, while new data points to concerning driver behaviour on regional roads, which some say could be fuelling the rising death toll.

Transcript

00:00Shrapnel, tyre marks and a bent road sign, all that remains following another deadly

00:09weekend on Northern Territory roads.

00:11A total of 49 lives lost over the past nine months.

00:17That's 49 members of somebody's family, somebody's father, somebody's mother, brother, sister,

00:25daughter, someone's wife or partner that is not coming home.

00:30Among the most recent tragedies, an 18-year-old woman who died in emergency at Royal Darwin

00:35Hospital last night after her sedan collided with a land cruiser at the intersection of

00:41Coonawarra Road and Bombing Road in Winnelli.

00:45In Catherine, a 17-year-old dead after his car crashed just before 4.30am on Sunday morning.

00:52As we're looking at the worst road toll we've had in at least the last decade, maybe longer.

00:56Police at a loss as to what more they can do to stop the carnage.

01:01How many more lives need to be lost before the community wakes up and pays some attention?

01:07As part of Rural Road Safety Month, the Australian Road Safety Foundation is targeting dangerous

01:13attitudes about driving in the bush, with two-thirds of fatalities around Australia

01:19occurring on regional roads last year.

01:22New data reveals half of Australians admit to unsafe driving practices on rural roads,

01:28nearly half admit to speeding, and 14 per cent are guilty of using a mobile phone behind the wheel.

01:35People will choose not to do the right thing because their perception in a rural area is

01:41that there's less likelihood of them getting caught.

01:43Despite increased police visibility and breath testing across Darwin, and their repeated

01:49calls for drivers to take better care, the message is seemingly falling on deaf ears.

01:55Both advocates and police saying the key to safer roads is in our hands.

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