NT Police increase RBTs for Christmas

NT Police has launched their Christmas road safety campaign, increasing RBTs across Darwin.

NT Police will be increasing RBTs on both back and major roads across Darwin to catch drug affected drivers as part of their festive season road safety campaign.

As part of the operation, NT Police will be conducting large scale drug and alcohol testing and automatic number plate recognition cameras to detect unregistered vehicles.

Sergeant Chris Thurgood from the NT Police Traffic Operations Unit had a clear message for Territory road users: “don’t be selfish on the roads, take care, look after each other.”

“If you do the wrong thing, we’ll be there and will catch you and you will face the consequences,” he said.

Since the campaign launched on Tuesday, NT police have done about 1000 tests, five of which have recorded a positive result for alcohol and/or drugs.

While conducting RBTs on Gardens Road on Thursday police had two positive roadside detections for alcohol within the first 30 minutes.

Sergeant Thurgood said this number was “fairly standard” for this time of year.

“We know unfortunately we will catch people doing the wrong things but I will say I applaud all the Territory road users that do the right thing,” he said.

“There’s only a minority that choose to do the wrong thing and get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol.”

NT Police conducting RBTs on Gardens Road as part of their road safety campaign this festive season. Picture: Talara McHugh

This year the Territory recorded a huge drop in road deaths in comparison to last year with the toll currently sitting at 30.

If this remains unchanged for the rest of the year, it will mark the Territory’s lowest toll in a decade.

Sergeant Thurgood said he was hopeful that the Territory would have a “fatality-free festive season” if people do the “right things” on the road.

“Drink driving is a major problem here, if we remove that people will see us out on the road they will think twice,” he said.

“So if we can do what we can and the public can do what they can to not get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol, I am sure we can bring that number right down.

“I ask road users to think twice before getting behind the wheel, including your passengers. If you see someone that’s been drinking, try and tell them not to drive, don’t get in the car, it’s just not worth the risk.”