In the last ten years 475 people have died on the Territory’s roads.
In 2015, 49 people lost their lives. To put this figure into perspective, the national road toll average is 5.1 road deaths per population of 100,000. Here in the NT, our current average is 20.2 deaths per 100,000.
To add to this carnage the number of people seriously injured in crashes averages 539 every year, these are lives that are changed in an instant and lives that are changed forever.
Yesterday, Northern Territory Police commenced Operation Lomani, a 12 day Territory-wide campaign of road safety initiatives aimed at reducing the number of serious vehicle crashes and fatalities.
Each day of unannounced activity will be an addition to the daily road policing activities and campaigns that the public have grown to expect on Territory roads.
The target for yesterday’s activities was drink driving.
Across the Northern Territory a total of 3,590 drivers were breath tested with 23 individuals returning a positive result.
In addition to the testing for drink driving Police utilised their new powers to randomly test for drug driving. Out of the 85 tests that were conducted, two drivers in Alice Springs returned positive results for methamphetamine.
The Northern Territory Police are glad to take these people off our roads and we will continue to do our part by targeting these offenders. However, it is up to the public to reinforce the message.
If you have friends or family that continue to commit offences that put their life, or the lives of others at risk, remind them how many people are killed or injured each year, your words may hold more value than ours.
LOMANI STATS
- 3590 Breath tests conducted
- 23 Positive breath tests
- 5 High range ( 0.212% the highest – Alice Springs)
- 7 Medium range
- 10 Low range
- 85 Drug tests conducted
- 2 Positive drug tests
- 50 Infringement notices issued for various traffic offences
- 5 Vehicles defected
