Over 7,700 drivers have been breath-tested across the Territory during the Easter Road Safety Campaign, Operation Crossroads.

Addressing all the major causes of road deaths and injuries, including drink driving, speeding, fatigue and inattention and seatbelts, the objectives of Operation Crossroads were met, with no fatalities recorded in the Northern Territory over the Easter reporting period.

NT Police provided a high profile police presence throughout the Territory during the course of the national campaign.

Acting Commander Mark Christopher of the Traffic and Specialist Services Command said he was pleased to report that there were no fatalities on the roads this Easter, with the majority of drivers taking responsibility for their actions on the roads.

“Overall most motorists were careful this Easter on our roads and it was great to see a significant decline in drink driving offences, however Police still detected 24 drink driving offences, which remains a great concern to us.

“One drink driver is too many on our roads, that 24 people were caught drink driving over this period is frankly disappointing.  We aim to Keep People Safe at all costs. 

“Thankfully, tragedy was averted over the holiday period, and we reached our operation objective of minimising casualty crashes and associated trauma during the Easter break.”

Over 190 drivers were issued with traffic infringement notices across the Territory, 56 for speeding, 15 for licence offences and 122 for other traffic offences.

“Aside from the fact that it is illegal to drive an unregistered vehicle, if your vehicle is not registered, your insurance is not valid.  An accident in an unregistered vehicle could prove extremely expensive,” Acting Commander Christopher said.

Overall the Statistics for the Northern Territory major centres were:

·         No of Breath Tests administered 7,710

·         No of vehicles inspected 7,710

·         No of Drink Driving offences detected 24

·         No of Drug Tests administered 6

·         No of positive Drug Tests 1

·         No of speeding offences detected 56

·         No of licence offences (unlicensed etc) detected 15

·         No of other traffic offences detected 122

·         No of vehicles defected 37

·         No of vehicles seized/impounded Nil

Although the Easter campaign was fatality free, a male lost his life in a single vehicle crash this morning.

“Unfortunately, the Major Crash Investigation Unit is today investigating the fatal crash in Braitling that took the life of a 37-year-old male in the early hours of this morning.  This tragedy brings the Territory road toll to four.

“Indications are that the man may not have been wearing a seatbelt, but it is too soon to confirm whether speed or alcohol were contributing factors in this crash.

The road toll for the same period this time last year was six.