NT Police to take things ‘back to basics’ in bid to lower road deaths

NT Police will be working on bringing things ‘back to basics’ when it comes to road user safety in 2025.

After a tragic year on Northern Territory roads, NT Police will be taking things ‘back to basics’ in 2025 in a bid to reduce road fatalities.

This year there have been 58 lives lost on Northern Territory roads, up from 28 at this time last year.

Assistant commissioner Matthew Hollamby said next year, police had a key message for drivers, ‘we need to get back to basics’.

“It’s not all about enforcement - there’s education awareness as well,” he said.

“I think the community should take greater ownership of their behaviours on the road.

“Most people, most of us are good, responsible drivers.

“But that ratbag element are the ones that put us all in danger.”

AC Hollamby said a noticeably different statistic in 2024’s road fatalities was the number of pedestrian deaths.

“If we were to subtract [pedestrian deaths], it would still be a bad year, but not remarkably outside what the 10 year averages are,” he said.

“Alcohol has played a significant part in the number of most of the pedestrian deaths that we’ve seen this year, on the part of the pedestrians.

“But overall, alcohol has been a significant factor in the majority of our crashes this year.”

Going into the holiday period police will have an increased presence with a focus on greater enforcement, especially around drug and alcohol use while driving.

“The message for everyone is, Christmas is coming,” AC Hollamby said.

“We want people to have a Merry Christmas, so we will be out there.

“So just, be careful on the roads,”

Mr Hollamby said there was often an increase in road accidents over the holiday season.

“In particular, Christmas sees a rise in the number of serious injuries and fatal crashes,” he said.

“We’ve made no apologies for being out in force over the Christmas period with a view to save your lives on our roads.”