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Speaker 1: Well, we've been speaking a losh about the road toll

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Speaker 1: and loss of lives on Northern Territory roads in recent weeks.

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Speaker 1: In the month of July alone, ten lives have been

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Speaker 1: lost on Northern Territory roads. In the twelve months to

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Speaker 1: June this year, fifty four people have lost their lives

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Speaker 1: on Northern Territory roads. That's up from twenty six deaths

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Speaker 1: in the previous year. It's a staggering increase of one

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Speaker 1: hundred and seven point seven percent. Now, with two long

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Speaker 1: weekends ahead, the AAENTT is urging Territorians to drive carefully

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Speaker 1: to ensure that we all get home safely. And joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line is the ant's CEO, Simon Matthias.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Simon, Hello, Cadi mate. A number

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Speaker 1: of deaths, I mean, the number that we have seen

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Speaker 1: really in the Northern Territory on our roads recently. It's appalling,

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Speaker 1: it's shocking. But it's someone's family member, it's someone's friend,

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Speaker 1: it's a member of the community. Every time we hear

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Speaker 1: one of those numbers, and I think that we, you know,

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Speaker 1: we sometimes forget.

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Speaker 2: That you'll almost become immune to it. And the other

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Speaker 2: thing we need to consider is that forty percent of

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Speaker 2: all row trauma involves young people. So yeah, it's pretty sobering.

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Speaker 2: It's a pretty sobering thought. As a parent of a

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Speaker 2: young two young boys, you know, it's probably my single

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Speaker 2: biggest fear, and I'm sure there's a lot of parents

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Speaker 2: out there who are the same. So yeah, it's completely unacceptable.

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Speaker 2: And here in the UNT, you know, we are particularly

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Speaker 2: vulnerable and susceptible to an increased risk of being in

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Speaker 2: a car accident.

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Speaker 1: What do you think we need to do as a

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Speaker 1: community to try to lower the incidents of deaths that

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Speaker 1: we are seeing on our roads.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think we fall into the trap sometimes of

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Speaker 2: being very quick to blow government. You know, we've got

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Speaker 2: seventy seventy percent of our roads and the nt are unsealed,

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Speaker 2: and obviously, you know, anc INCLUDE has been pushing for

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Speaker 2: the territory government to participate in providing you know, data,

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Speaker 2: so that we've got a national data set. But at

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Speaker 2: the end of the day, the big spike that we're

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Speaker 2: seeing in the road toll here in empties comes down

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Speaker 2: to poor individual choices and poor behavior. So I think, really, Katie,

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Speaker 2: all we can do is to reinforce the message to

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Speaker 2: people when they get behind the wheel of a car

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Speaker 2: is that ultimately it comes down to you and the

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Speaker 2: choices that you make while you're driving. And I think

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Speaker 2: that's that's what we have to hone in on.

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Speaker 1: And we speak a lot about the fatal five. I

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Speaker 1: know we talk to the Northern Territory Police about that,

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Speaker 1: but do you think Territorians are truly understanding what that means?

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Speaker 2: Well, the clearly the statistics which suggest that the answer

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Speaker 2: to that is non you know, I think I think

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Speaker 2: you know, we've got the fatal five round speeding, drink,

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Speaker 2: drug driving, distraction, seat belts, fatigue. I think up here

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Speaker 2: in the NT we've also got the additional things that

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Speaker 2: we need to contend with, such as heavy vehicles and

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Speaker 2: and RVs on the road, and so you know, there's

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Speaker 2: a lot of risk associated with overtaking, you know, road

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Speaker 2: trains and caravans that are on our road, particularly during

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Speaker 2: the dry season, and I think a lot of the

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Speaker 2: time people underestimate the amount of road that it takes

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Speaker 2: to to overtake a vehicle, particularly if there's a low

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Speaker 2: difference in the speed between the the car doing the

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Speaker 2: overtaking and the car being overtaken, So I think that's

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Speaker 2: probably something that that we a lot of people are

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Speaker 2: poorly equipped to deal with. So yeah, I think I

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Speaker 2: think there's a few things there that people when the

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Speaker 2: driving you really need to think about.

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Speaker 1: Simon, you touched on this a moment ago, and I

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Speaker 1: know you and I have spoken about this before about

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Speaker 1: the sharing of that data. So we sort of have

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Speaker 1: a really clear understanding of what is causing these fatalities

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Speaker 1: on our roads. But I mean, is that data readily available,

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Speaker 1: Like we talk about people being intoxicated behind the wheel

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Speaker 1: and if that is any you know, if that's an

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Speaker 1: aspect of a fatal crash, but you know, in some

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Speaker 1: cases as well, we know that we've seen situations where

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Speaker 1: some some of the pedestrians that have been struck have

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Speaker 1: been intoxicated. Also have we got a really clear sort

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Speaker 1: of breakdown when it comes to that data, what the

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Speaker 1: causes are behind each life that is lost on our roads.

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Speaker 2: We've got a pretty good handle on the data, including

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Speaker 2: fatalities and road trauma. So we know that, for example,

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Speaker 2: forty percent of road fatalities in the NT are alcohol related,

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Speaker 2: forty percent of fatalities involved people not wearing a seat

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Speaker 2: belt and that's that's a stagger that continues. That's a

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Speaker 2: stat that continues to blow me away. Forty percent of

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Speaker 2: fatalities not wearing a seat belt. You know, to think

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Speaker 2: that if you put your seatbelt on, you can, if

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Speaker 2: you can, reduce your your chances of dying in a

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Speaker 2: car accent by forty percent. It's crazy. One in four

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Speaker 2: fatalities in the church are related to speed. As I said,

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Speaker 2: forty percent of all road trauma relates to young people,

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Speaker 2: and there's a big percentage of fatalities to where alcohol, speed,

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Speaker 2: and not wearing a seat belt are all combined in

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Speaker 2: the one accident. So to answer your question, Katie, I

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Speaker 2: think our calls for data really relate to the planning

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Speaker 2: of infrastructure road you know, the road spend, and we

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Speaker 2: think that that can play a long term role in

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Speaker 2: improving the quality of our roads, which ultimately improves road safety.

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Speaker 2: I think though, that doesn't really play a role in

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Speaker 2: the fact that ten people in the last two weeks

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Speaker 2: have lost lost their lives and seven individual crashes. I've

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Speaker 2: got election policy platform AT's election policy platform in front

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Speaker 2: of me that was only published last month, and it

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Speaker 2: says in here that twenty four lives have been lost

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Speaker 2: in the Mtio roads as at the first of June.

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Speaker 2: That's barely six weeks ago, and we've had sixteen more

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Speaker 2: lives lost in that time. So I think, ultimately, Katie,

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Speaker 2: we need people to exhibit some better behaviors when they're

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Speaker 2: behind the wheel.

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Speaker 1: So I remember before I let you go this morning,

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Speaker 1: one of the other topics that we are planning to

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Speaker 1: talk a bit more about after ten o'clock. We've got

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police on, but I think we need

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Speaker 1: to change the laws when it comes to people having

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Speaker 1: a roadie, you know, being able to have a drink

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Speaker 1: while you're driving if you're not over the limit.

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Speaker 2: I think we do. You know, we all kind of

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Speaker 2: make fun of the fact that you know, you've got

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Speaker 2: a ROADI or a traveler, but even if you're under

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Speaker 2: the limit, it is a really bad look and I

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Speaker 2: think it also perhaps then leads on to other behaviors that, Okay,

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Speaker 2: you might be under the limit while you're having a

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Speaker 2: traveler or a roadie, but what's the situation going to

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Speaker 2: be later on that night, at the night when you

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Speaker 2: when you've got to the destination that you're going to,

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Speaker 2: when you then need to go home. So I think

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Speaker 2: I think there's a connection between you know, that behavior

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Speaker 2: and perhaps what might transpire you know, at some point

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Speaker 2: later on. So I certainly support the Assistant Police Commissioner

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Speaker 2: in his call for the roady beans. Dan, yep, we

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Speaker 2: certainly it can't do any harm.

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Speaker 1: Well, we are going to be catching up with Assistant

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Speaker 1: Commissioner Matt hollandby in a few minutes time. A n

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Speaker 1: T CEO, Simon Matthiah So, I always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with me today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Coty.

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Speaker 1: Thanks mate,