Fellow Territorians,
I will not pull any punches here - we have been blatantly lied to! Click here letter to editor.
On page 85 of the "taskforce" report into road safety in the NT is a table which supposedly lists road deaths due to speed. There are three rows, one for "Unlimited (rural)" which of course includes the Stuart Hwy; one for "Limited (rural)" and "Limited (urban)".
Next to "Unlimited(rural)" there was a figure of 19 deaths, supposedly to speed. **Remember, this is over 6 years**.
Being curious, I wanted to know the breakdown of the "19" deaths into dirt and sealed roads, so I rang the taskforce hotline on 1800 720 144. And guess what, there was no breakdown. When I asked why there was no breakdown this was the answer I basically got (ie exact words I cannot recall),
"Well, the reason why there is no breakdown is because there are no statistics". At this point I am gobsmacked, as you can understand, so I ask,
"What do you mean there are no statistics, the report says 19 people died on unlimited roads due to speed, they had to get the number from somewhere?".
And the reply,"The police do not record statistics on deaths due to speed on the unlimited highways because there is no speed limit. BECAUSE THERE IS NO SPEED LIMIT ON THE UNLIMITED HIGHWAYS THEY CANNOT OFFICIALLY ATTRIBUTE A DEATH DUE TO SPEED".
FACT: "NT road crash death rate over the past four years is 39 deaths per 100,000 Indigenous persons and 12 deaths per 100,000 non-Indigenous".
-- Between 1999 and 2002 indigenous Australians made up 43 per cent of all road fatalities in the Northern Territory, yet they constitute just 29 per cent of the population.
-- 74 per cent of occupants and pedestrians were legally drunk (over 0.05)
-- 70 per cent were either non-licensed drivers, or in a vehicle being driven by a non-licensed driver.
-- Failure to wear a seatbelt was a factor in 60 per cent of vehicle occupant deaths
-- Almost half of all fatalities were pedestrians
-- Two-thirds of the fatal crashes were in urban areas.
FACT: "NT has the highest incidence of unlicensed drivers in the world.During the last few years under the current Police Commissioners rule we have seen a big increase in deaths of Territorians on roads that already have speed limits. This is particularly evident in Darwin"
PROPAGANDA: "One person is killed and nine seriously injured on territory roads every week"
The Indigenous are killed from single vehicle roll overs in the middle of the scrub, sleeping on roadways & overloading with passengers. It doesnt matter how somebody dies on the road, in a vehicle or not, it still counts towards the road toll.
Some tourists also are a problem with overseas tourists driving on the wrong side of the road, in cars they arnt familiar with, but thats only a small number.
Now the top end has a "traffic branch" of course the numbers will look better after this revamp, & I bet the next road toll released will only include urban statistics, even so, our toll now with the new laws reflects how unjust they are.