So, bloody sad, the poor bloke died this morning. Here's the link:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/20/2123996.htm

Unfortunately, this takes the toll officially to 56 (see Police link below)

http://www.nt.gov.au/pfes/PFES/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&p=148

At 56, this is 12 more than the same time last year, which incidentally ended up being the final number.

It is 27% higher than last years total!

And, this years toll also has the dubious distinction of being the highest road toll in the NT this decade.

I have not got a lot to add to this, except to say that I hope sanity prevails and someone has the guts to tackle the root causes of deaths on NT roads. In the past 12 months I have written numerous letters to the NT News, but they are so pro-Labor it isn't funny. My letters continue to either get rejected outright, or they publish them but edit out the bits that really matter. It is very frustrating.

The people that did the Taskforce Report should hang their heads in shame, they are a disgrace. Just remember, if you want to know who they are, I started another thread a while ago titled " People Who Failed the NT Miserably on Road Safety. It's Time to Wage War!".

I must admit the "It's Time to Wage War" bit was probably a bit extreme, but people must understand the gravity of the situation. These people did not properly analyse the problems on NT roads, because if they did they would have taken a completely different tack. All they did was produce a report, which was never intended to be debated, and never was, so that the government could hang their legislation on it. The government simply wanted to raise revenue, pure and simple.

And the really sickening part of it all, as I have previously stated, is that all members of the Taskforce committee worked for the NT government, there was no independence. To make matters even worse, one of those comittee members, Doug Webb, works for the TIO, which benefited from the changes to the road rules. Therefore, Doug Webb should not have been a part of the process given that his employer benefited from the report. It's a shambles.

There should be a very public enquiry into the whole process, the Taskforce Report, and the way the new road laws were introduced. And the government should explain why some of the changes were made when they were both totally unjustified, because there was no problem, and unnecessary.

Remember this my dear people, prior to January 1 2007, the NT had the lowest incidence of speed related deaths in the whole country at 17%, that was without a 130kmh speed limit on the highways, and without fixed speed cameras and red light cameras, and without demerit points. The worst state for speeding is NSW at 40%, and they have a plethora of speed cameras and red light cameras, a maximum 100kmh speed limit on some highways and demerits.

Well, the NT is the perfect litmus test to prove that speed limits on highways, demerits, speed cameras and red light cameras do not work.

Also keep this in mind. You will not find this in the Taskforce Report because they conveniently ommitted it, but only 6 people died due to red light running in the NT between 2000-2005. That's only 1 per annum. What was the governments response - spend a fortune on combined red light/speed cameras, 9 to be precise.

Now, I am sure you're all intelligent enough to work out that 1 death per annum for this offence is probably a number you can live with. But to install 9 cameras is ludicrous given the numbers and I tell you why.

Why? Because it means that at 3 of the proposed red light camera sites a fatality never occurred in the reported period (ie 2000-2005). So, if no red light running deaths occurred at 3 of these sites, then why are cameras being installed? Money! It must be, because they sure aren't going to save any lives.

The whole thing is a disgrace and I am disgusted by it all. And what's really disturbing is that nobody, except us, is asking questions, and they are getting away with it.