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Speaker 1: We know that it was a horror weekend on Territory roads.

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Speaker 1: Five people killed in two separate crashes. Three females and

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Speaker 1: one male died after a vehicle crashed on the Roper

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Speaker 1: Highway with another man seriously injured. A pedestrian also died

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Speaker 1: after being struck by a car at Nunamar on the

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Speaker 1: Stuart Highway. Now joining me in the studio for an

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Speaker 1: update on the investigation is Major Crash Unit Detective Senior

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Speaker 1: Sergeant Brendan Linda. Good morning to you, morning, Katie. Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for your time this morning. Brendan, Now, where

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Speaker 1: are things at with the investigation for the Roper Highway crash.

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Speaker 2: So the Roper Highway crash was attended by Major Crash detectives.

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Speaker 2: We are investigating a number of causal factors in that crash.

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Speaker 2: We are aware that the occupants of that vehicle spoke

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Speaker 2: to family shortly prior to that crash. We know that

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Speaker 2: there was the occupants of that vehicle, including the driver,

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Speaker 2: had been consuming alcohol, so we believe they're intoxicated. We've

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Speaker 2: obtained bloods for toxicology toxicology analysis to determine how intoxicated

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Speaker 2: they were, but certainly alcohol is a factor in that crash.

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Speaker 2: The surviving sole survivor remains hospitalized, I believe with serious injuries.

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Speaker 1: It's like it was, it's a terrible crash. I mean,

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Speaker 1: every crash on our roads where there's a loss of

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Speaker 1: life is a terrible situation. But then to have three

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Speaker 1: losses of life in four in one crash is horrendous,

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Speaker 1: and I can't imagine what it's like then for those

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Speaker 1: first responders heading out there to something like that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's horrific for everyone. The the person who contacted

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Speaker 2: police happened upon the crash at that point, one person

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Speaker 2: had died by the time they had gone and called

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Speaker 2: for emergency services to arrive. Sadly, another three had passed,

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Speaker 2: so four fatals for deaths in one one car crash,

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Speaker 2: completely avoidable, almost certainly related to alcohol, which sadly is

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Speaker 2: probably almost ninety percent of our work for major crash.

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Speaker 2: We deal exclusively with fatal crashes, and unfortunately the vast majority,

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Speaker 2: almost exclusively is related to alcohol and or drugs.

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Speaker 1: It's absolutely terrible to hear that, because it is, like

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Speaker 1: you said, it's so avoidable. You know, you make a

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Speaker 1: conscious decision whether you get behind the wheel or not.

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Speaker 1: And just you know, I'm speaking about any fatality on

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Speaker 1: the road. Said, if you've made a conscious decision to

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Speaker 1: still get behind the wheel of a vehicle after you've

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Speaker 1: been drinking, I would have thought that we'd reached a

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Speaker 1: point where people were not doing that anymore. But it

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Speaker 1: does not seem to be getting through.

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Speaker 2: No, Sadly that's not the case. In this particular instance.

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Speaker 2: We've spoken to family, interviewed family who were involved in

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Speaker 2: speaking with that group. They went as far as trying

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Speaker 2: to wrestle the keys out of the mission that the

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Speaker 2: driver was unfortunately intent on driving. And we know what

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Speaker 2: can happen when you've been drinking driving. The vehicle left

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Speaker 2: the road, broadsided, tripped and rolled. No one was wearing

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Speaker 2: a seat belt, and at least four of them were

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Speaker 2: ejected from the vehicle.

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Speaker 1: How incredibly tragic that you know that the family and

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Speaker 1: friends have tried to stop them from getting behind the

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Speaker 1: wheel of the car they still have and then for

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Speaker 1: this to be the outcome, it's just shocking stuff. It is. Now,

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Speaker 1: how is the injured man doing at this point?

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Speaker 2: I don't have a condition update on him. He remains

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Speaker 2: hospitalized with serious injuries. The identification process for the four

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Speaker 2: deceased is underway at the present time. I believe they're

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Speaker 2: being transferred to Darwin today or tomorrow, I'll take that now.

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Speaker 1: Regarding the Nunamar crash, where are things at with those investigations.

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Speaker 2: So we've spoken to a number of witnesses who saw

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Speaker 2: the deceased. So for that particular crash, that was a

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Speaker 2: male pedestrian walking down the Stuart Hallway. He was struck

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Speaker 2: by a car traveling south just past Jenkins Road, the

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Speaker 2: intersection there about two hundred meters past there. We believe

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Speaker 2: he was walking on the road when he was struck

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Speaker 2: by the vehicle. The driver, as is legally required, stopped

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Speaker 2: to assist contacted police and he's certainly assisted us with inquiries.

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Speaker 2: We are investigating a number of causes with that one.

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Speaker 2: But we've spoken to witnesses. I've actually seen dash cam

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Speaker 2: footage We've obtained from a motorist who passed that pedestrian

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Speaker 2: shortly prior to the crash, and he was unfortunately wearing

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Speaker 2: dark clothing. A dark clothing someone in wearing dark clothing

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Speaker 2: at night in a poorly area, you have very little

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Speaker 2: time to react.

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Speaker 1: Obviously, still piecing together exactly what's going on, But do

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Speaker 1: we have any idea why he was on the road.

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Speaker 2: That's the part of the inquir is at the moment,

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Speaker 2: we're trying to work out exactly why.

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Speaker 1: There does seem to be and this is purely an

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Speaker 1: observation and not necessarily related to this incident, but there

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Speaker 1: does seem to be an increase in the number of

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Speaker 1: fatalities that were seeing on the road that are pedestrians

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Speaker 1: being struck in some cases. I know that I've spoken

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Speaker 1: to Saint John's about this before and the police about

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Speaker 1: this before. But in some cases those that are being

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Speaker 1: struck are intoxicated. I mean, like, is that a correct

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Speaker 1: sort of observation to make? Are we seeing an increase

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Speaker 1: in that? It is?

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately, it's almost exclusively related to alcohol and or drugs.

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Speaker 2: So this year we've had three pedestrians kill on the

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Speaker 2: road for a row toal of eight. Last year was

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Speaker 2: eight out of thirty one, and the year before that

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Speaker 2: was twelve out of fifty two. So about a quarter

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Speaker 2: to a third of our road toll are pedestrians almost exclusively.

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Speaker 2: They're Aboriginal, almost exclusively. They're intoxicated on alcohol and or drugs.

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Speaker 2: You know, it would be many years. We're only discussing

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Speaker 2: in the office the other day. No one could recall

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Speaker 2: a non aboriginal, non intoxicated person, obviously excluding children, for years.

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Speaker 1: How incredibly tragic really that for some reason the message

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Speaker 1: is not getting through, and you know that's a loved

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Speaker 1: one's family member whose life is lost. It's incredibly tragic

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Speaker 1: for their whole family, for everybody, you know, like when

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Speaker 1: you have any kind of of road fatality, the ramifications

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Speaker 1: are so deep within a community, no matter where you

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Speaker 1: come from, and you know your sporting club, no matter,

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Speaker 1: no matter what. But then for the police and the

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Speaker 1: first responders going to those incidents as well, when you

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Speaker 1: know that these things are avoidable.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely they are one hundredercent avoidable. And you know, road deaths,

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Speaker 2: particularly pedestrian road deaths, are a symptom of the problem.

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Speaker 2: And the problem, as we will know the norn territory

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Speaker 2: is alcohol. Many of the pedestrians, if not the large

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Speaker 2: majority of pedestrians killed on the road, having adifference to

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Speaker 2: their own safety after having consumed alcohol, drugs, and at

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Speaker 2: times obliviousness to their own safety. So most of them

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Speaker 2: occur at night. So drivers, you know you don't have

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Speaker 2: to drive long in the Indawen or probably anywhere in

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Speaker 2: the territory. Really to see people staggering on the road

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Speaker 2: intoxicated during the day their relative easy to avoid at night,

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Speaker 2: unfortunately they're not.

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Speaker 1: It is a terrible situation that we're in. I know

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Speaker 1: that I've spoken as well at different times to the

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Speaker 1: Indigenous Road Safety Academy. We've got so many people working

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Speaker 1: in this space really trying to make a change as well,

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Speaker 1: and trying to educate people so that they don't walk

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Speaker 1: on the roads when they are, you know, whether you're

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Speaker 1: intoxicated or not intoxicated, but walking on the roads at

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Speaker 1: night as well, and the ramifications of that, as you

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Speaker 1: know all too well, probably better than anybody else who

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Speaker 1: is you know, then there at the pointy end after

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Speaker 1: a road fatality, having to investigate what's going on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the territory is not even two hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty thousand people and we've had eight fatalities. You know.

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Speaker 2: By comparison, South Australia is a state of one point

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Speaker 2: eight million.

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Speaker 1: Our road tolls high than.

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Speaker 2: Theirs for the year. It's you know, last year I

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Speaker 2: was being asked to do media interviews on why our

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Speaker 2: road toll was so low because it was comparatively for

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Speaker 2: the year before, almost half of what it was, And

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Speaker 2: I just thought that was outrageous because our road toll

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Speaker 2: is the Northern Territory is four to five times the

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Speaker 2: national average per capita basis. If the Northern Territory was

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Speaker 2: its own country, we would be worse than many countries

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Speaker 2: in the world. We would be worse than China, worse

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Speaker 2: than Russia, worse than India, worst than Pakistan, worse than

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Speaker 2: Afghanistan in terms of per capita road deaths.

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Speaker 1: It's shocking, really it is. Brendan. What is your message

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Speaker 1: to motorists this morning, Well, simply.

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Speaker 2: Take care on the road. Don't drive after having drink,

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Speaker 2: after having been drinking or doing drugs. But stay off

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Speaker 2: the road if you've been doing drinking or drugs, full stop.

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Speaker 2: That includes pedestrians. If you're going to drink, if you're

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Speaker 2: going to do drugs, stay off the road. Not as

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Speaker 2: many as ninety percent of our fatalities that we investigate

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Speaker 2: are linked back to alcohol on drugs, and we talk

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Speaker 2: about the fatal five ad nauseum. The reality is for

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Speaker 2: the last few years it's the fatal one. So don't

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Speaker 2: drink and drive. For those driving at night, wherever you

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Speaker 2: can use your high beam lights to try and illuminate

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Speaker 2: drunken pedestrians on the road their reality. For the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: take care, stick to the speed limit and yeah, avoid

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Speaker 2: the fatal five, particularly alcohol and druns.

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Speaker 1: Well Major Investigation or Major Crash Unit, Detective Senior Sergeant

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Speaker 1: Brendan Linda, I really appreciate your time this morning. It

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Speaker 1: must have been an incredibly difficult week for you for

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Speaker 1: all of our Northern Territory police and first responders going

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Speaker 1: out to those crashes as well. We really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you,