An 18-year-old woman and 17-year-old boy have died in two separate crashes on NT roads over the weekend, making the death toll the highest in over a decade. Police say they're doing all they can, while new data points to concerning driver behaviour on regional roads, which some say could be fuelling the rising death toll.
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00:00Shrapnel, tyre marks and a bent road sign, all that remains following another deadly
00:09weekend on Northern Territory roads.
00:11A total of 49 lives lost over the past nine months.
00:17That's 49 members of somebody's family, somebody's father, somebody's mother, brother, sister,
00:25daughter, someone's wife or partner that is not coming home.
00:30Among the most recent tragedies, an 18-year-old woman who died in emergency at Royal Darwin
00:35Hospital last night after her sedan collided with a land cruiser at the intersection of
00:41Coonawarra Road and Bombing Road in Winnelli.
00:45In Catherine, a 17-year-old dead after his car crashed just before 4.30am on Sunday morning.
00:52As we're looking at the worst road toll we've had in at least the last decade, maybe longer.
00:56Police at a loss as to what more they can do to stop the carnage.
01:01How many more lives need to be lost before the community wakes up and pays some attention?
01:07As part of Rural Road Safety Month, the Australian Road Safety Foundation is targeting dangerous
01:13attitudes about driving in the bush, with two-thirds of fatalities around Australia
01:19occurring on regional roads last year.
01:22New data reveals half of Australians admit to unsafe driving practices on rural roads,
01:28nearly half admit to speeding, and 14 per cent are guilty of using a mobile phone behind the wheel.
01:35People will choose not to do the right thing because their perception in a rural area is
01:41that there's less likelihood of them getting caught.
01:43Despite increased police visibility and breath testing across Darwin, and their repeated
01:49calls for drivers to take better care, the message is seemingly falling on deaf ears.
01:55Both advocates and police saying the key to safer roads is in our hands.