St John NT paramedic James Stewart warns road users to take care

A paramedic has shared his harrowing perspective on the road toll and about witnessing tragedy on levels many can’t comprehend. Read his messages of warning to road users.

They are the first to arrive and respond to the horrific incidents that have claimed 52 lives on Territory roads.

The road toll in the NT has been particularly felt by our paramedics, as they spring into action and come across these devastating scenes and then have to live with the memories every day of their lives.

St John paramedic and regional general manager James Stewart said he wasn’t able to take in the enormity of what he’d come across, with training kicking in before anything else can register.

“As a first responder to any motor accident we train a lot and that training kicks in,” he said.

“We can’t afford to have an emotive response no matter how bad the scene is because obviously people look to us and the emergency services in general to provide guidance and leadership on scene.”

James Stewart is Regional Manager of St John NT has witnessed firsthand the tragedy of the road toll. Picture: Bethany Griffiths

The road toll reached a tragic new high this year, surpassing last year’s total with a month to go.

So far in 2022 52 people have died on Northern Territory roads, 15 more than the total for 2021.

St John NT ambulances have attended more than 100 more incidents compared to the past 12 months.

Mr Stewart said there wasn’t really a trend with the deaths this year, although a few common factors were at play.

“With fatal incidents speed is usually a factor and particular fatigue and drink driving is anecdotally seen a lot,” he said.

He said the number was particularly concerning coming up to the festive season.

“We know that our road toll is substantially higher and we would like to do our part in driving the clear messages,” he said.

“We do see an uptick of incidents (around Christmas) which might have to do with more people being out on the road and travelling — we do encourage people to be very mindful of other people around Christmas.

“We are really strongly driving the message ‘please do not drive drunk, please do not drive fatigued, please do not drive drugged and please do not drive distracted’.”

He said the nature of the job meant many of the scenes stayed with him long after he had attended them.

“As a paramedic any incident that you go to will affect you in some way, whether you acknowledge it or not,” he said.

“When we attend any traumatic incident we need to make sure we’re supporting each other the best we can and personal resilience for our people is really really important.”