NT road toll: Crash investigator Snr Sgt Richard Musgrave and Supt. Paul Wood share horror stories

Cradling a mortally wounded driver as they say their last words, Pulling limbs from an engine, conducting death knocks. Two NT Police veterans have told of how our shocking road toll affects officers.

Superintendent Paul Wood and Senior Sergeant Richard Musgrave say our road toll won't reduce until the community takes more responsibility. Picture: Alex Treacy

Senior NT Police traffic officers and crash investigators say they are haunted by the carnage they witness almost daily on Territory roads, as the jurisdiction prepares for what may be the deadliest year for our road users since 2008, when 75 people lost their lives.

With 42 lives lost already in 2024 – compared to seven at the same time last year – the Territory is on track to lose an additional 20 lives before the year is out.

Senior Sergeant Richard Musgrave, a veteran of the Major Crash Investigation Unit, told this masthead that, as the unit only has 10 members when fully staffed, he had attended the majority of Top End fatalities in 2024.

“I have attended three head-ons this year, where vehicles that were six or seven metres in length have been compressed to two metres in length, cabs of utes that have been compressed to less than a metre,” Sergeant Musgrave said.

“The occupants become a part of the vehicle.

“We have to remove them, bit by bit, limb by limb, from the engine, and that’s not something any human should have to do.

“It’s something you never get out of your head when you have to remove someone from the engine.”

Senior Sergeant Richard Musgrave and Superintendent Paul Wood say our road toll won't reduce until the community takes more responsibility. Picture: Alex Treacy

No less confronting for the 10 major crash investigators are the ‘death knocks’ – informing family members their loved ones are no longer among the living.

“I don’t think there’s any coping mechanism that you can put in place that can prepare you or steel you for that conversation and the reactions that are waiting for you behind that door,” Sergeant Musgrave said.

“It affects you right to the core of who you are.

“The expressions on those people’s faces even before you introduce yourself, they know something is wrong.

“The amount of time that you’ve got to spend just talking to these people and obviously you’re their first port of call, so more often than not they’ll use you to deal with the issues themselves.

“So they’ll be discussing with you all sorts of personal details that are not even relevant to the crash or the investigation itself, and you’ve just got to sit there and you don’t have to say anything, do anything, just absorb everything they’re pouring out.

“I personally see myself as being as hard as you can possibly get, and it still affects you.”

Superintendent Paul Wood, who heads Territory Road Policing Division, echoed Sergeant Musgrave.

He recalled a traffic accident from when he was the officer-in-charge of Humpty Doo Police Station in which he comforted the mortally wounded victim as they drew their last breath.

“I recall the last words and then they stopped breathing,” Superintendent Wood said.

“When the ambulance arrived, we tried to do resus [resuscitation] but we were unsuccessful.

“It does stick with you. It’s very emotional, very raw.”

Both officers said that the Territory road toll would never be anything less than appalling until drivers (and pedestrians) took responsibility for their own safety.

Police Crash Investigators at the scene of a Fatal traffic incident on the Stuart Highway. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Sergeant Musgrave said that of all the fatal crashes he attended in 2024, only one may have been the result of mechanical failure.

All the rest are attributable largely to the ‘fatal five’ – speeding, drink driving, failing to wear seatbelts and driving while tired or distracted – all of which can be controlled by the driver.

“Alcohol is at the base of the majority, by far the majority, of our crashes, be it driver or pedestrian based.

“Seat belts is definitely another huge issue we face – for some reason, people just aren’t wearing seat belts.

“People honestly think it’ll never happen to me.”

Superintendent Wood said you can make all the laws in the world and devote significant resources to enforcement actions, but if the people aren’t on board, then the deaths will keep tallying up.

“It comes back down to attitudes – the driver’s attitudes, the community’s attitudes,” he said.

“It’s everyone’s responsibility.

“It’s not the responsibility of the government of the day.

Tennant Creek Police Station is likely to host a command of the Territory Road Policing Division in the future. Picture: Alex Treacy

“Police will do what they can do with the legislative power that they’ve been awarded, but it comes down to the drivers making those decisions.

“The community is currently complacent.”

Superintendent Wood said the road policing division was currently looking to expand into new areas, with a possible expansion into Tennant Creek mooted (commands are currently based at Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs), as well as devoting more resources to remote enforcement and education.