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Katie spoke with John Ginnane from NT Police about Darwin's crash hotspots · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that Amy has named Darwin's top crash hot
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: spots and the Stuart Highway has taken out four of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the top five worst crash spots. Now joining us in
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the studio right now is John Ganaine. He is the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Senior Sergeant Officer in charge of Darwin Traffic Operations. Good
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: morning to you, John.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. Thanks for having me.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, always good to have you on the show and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: in the studio now, mate, Amy's named these top Darwen
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: crash hot spots the Stuart Highway taking out four of
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: those top five worst crash spots.
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  Speaker 3: Is it really a surprise to police.
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  Speaker 4: It's not surprising at all, Katie. And all these Stuart
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Highway spots are all within the greater Darwin area. It's
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: a bit disappointing rather than surprising. Number one on the
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: list of the Stuart Highway cool a linger now that
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: has some of the best built and best maintained roads
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: from their right up through where the Highway turns into
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  Speaker 4: Tiger Brewn and drive going into town at some of
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: the best roads that we have in the Northern territory.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: And yet it's still ranks right at the top for
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  Speaker 4: motor vehicle accidents and significant injuries. And I would suggest
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: there's a number of reasons for that. Most likely is
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: that you have a massive amount of different types of
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  Speaker 4: vehicles all trying to use the same bit of road
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: at the same time. And that's anything from your HOINDI
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: gets as vespers all that sort of thing, right up
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: to road trains and all that sort of stuff. If
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: you combine that with what is basically in attention and
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  Speaker 4: human error, and make no mistake that's what it is,
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: then it's really unsurprising that we see so many Bengals
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  Speaker 4: around that part of town.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Well, and then we also saw that nose to tail
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: failure to give way and car park dings equally the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: most common type of crash. I'm not surprised about the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: car park.
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  Speaker 2: One, no.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: I think when they learn to drive, it would be
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  Speaker 4: helpful if part of the driving lessons were to navigate
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  Speaker 4: some of the car parks in and around town, and
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  Speaker 4: they include underground car parks. I live very close to
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: the High Biscus Shopping Center car park, and anyone who's
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: tried to park in there anytime from midday to six
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  Speaker 4: o'clock in the afternoon on will know it's a bit
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  Speaker 4: of an effort. So if you're learn to drive, part
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  Speaker 4: of that should be an integral part of the process
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: because we continually find that people who cannot judge angles,
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: and it's basic geometry and knowing how large your car is,
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: knowing how large the car park is, identifying a car park,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: work your way into it. It should be a simple process,
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: but na, and it comes to police attention quite a
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: bit when people get a bit upset with each other
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  Speaker 4: when really the problem is their inherent failure to be
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: able to operate a made vehicle.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: So really you've got to learn to park.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Probably I remember being like an eighteen year old with
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: my oldness and bluebird trying to park in the car
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: park no power steering, thinking geez, this is not an
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: easy task.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: Day one, day one for me, when I got my
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  Speaker 4: peoplates back of the day Day one, I scraped my
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: father's mute right up against the side of somebody else's
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: car and that was the end of that. And after that,
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: after I finished being dealt with by my father, then
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  Speaker 4: I made it my business to become an expert parking.
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  Speaker 2: Here we are.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Set you on the path to being the officer in
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  Speaker 1: charge of dah and Traffic operations.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it went the hard way and no question.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's so true.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: You know you've got it like you do sort of
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  Speaker 1: need to learn and need to learn to do it properly,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: and you know, having a bit of a laugh about
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: some of those different experiences that we've gone through.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: But you know the reality is.
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  Speaker 1: Even yesterday, you know, in that twenty four hours, there
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  Speaker 1: was quite a few sort of incidents on the road.
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  Speaker 1: I know, I was actually listening to Dannyell, my producer's
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  Speaker 1: news in the afternoon. She was talking about these statistics
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  Speaker 1: and we drove past that that incident that was on
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the Stuart Highway just there near parap where it seemed
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  Speaker 1: as though a few vehicles had rear ended each other. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: No, it's detail Katie in traditional manner right in the
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  Speaker 4: spot which Amy has listed as number two on the
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  Speaker 4: hit list. And again that's no surprise, and nobody can
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  Speaker 4: say that it's nobody's fault because if you are not
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  Speaker 4: paying attention, you know you're in heavy traffic or heavy
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  Speaker 4: what passes for Darwin, you know you're in heavy traffic.
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  Speaker 4: You know you should be giving the vehicle in front
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  Speaker 4: of you sufficient space, So you can't really say, oh,
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  Speaker 4: how could this have happened when you weren't paying sufficient
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  Speaker 4: attention and you end up ramming the car in front
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  Speaker 4: of you?
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  Speaker 3: Well, what about then?
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  Speaker 1: I know that there was actually a more serious incident
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I think at Bellamack as well this time.
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  Speaker 3: I believe a couple of people ended up hospitalized.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. That was in chung La Present and Bellamack.
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  Speaker 4: That was about half past eight last night.
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  Speaker 3: Yep.
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  Speaker 2: Now three cars were involved in that.
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  Speaker 4: Of those two eagles won't be being driven around by
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: their owners anymore at all. Two drivers and a passenger actually,
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: so three people were conveyed to the Royal Dalen Hospital
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: as a result of that. Fortunately, and it is luck
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  Speaker 4: more than good management that none of those three people
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: have life threatening injuries.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well it is. It does sound as though that's
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: the case. Luck more than anything.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Hey, And Wednesday is obviously the most common day, and
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: in the afternoons between two, well between one and four
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: point thirty pm. But a few people drunk driving last
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  Speaker 1: night as well, wasn't there.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, it's the usual array of drunk drivers who continually
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  Speaker 4: endanger the lives.
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  Speaker 2: Of other people on their roads.
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  Speaker 4: And I know I say this to all sorts of
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  Speaker 4: people in different forums, but it is out and out selfishness.
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  Speaker 4: When you get behind the wheel of a motive vehicle
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  Speaker 4: like it, you enter into a contract with everyone else
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  Speaker 4: on the road around you, and that contract is to
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: keep each other safe. And if you're deliberately making a
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: choice to not do that, then you're not going to
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: get any sympathy from us, regardless of the circumstances.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: John Ganaine, anything else we should be aware of on
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the roads at this point in time. I know there
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: is well, there's meant to be a bit of rain about.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: We're all hoping for it. It is a reminder as
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: well to make sure that you leave enough distance between
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: you and the vehicle in front of you.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
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  Speaker 4: At Again, I can't emphasize enough the degree of key
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: you need to take on the roads. Again, this is
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: a seasonal thing. The police say this every year, and
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: every year it seems to fall on deaf years. But
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: if when you're driving your car, if you drive as
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: though your own children are in the cars around you,
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: to the sides, to the front and the rear, you
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  Speaker 4: will never go wrong. Take basic precautions and you will
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: get there in one piece.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Well, John Ganain, the senior sergeant to Officer in charge
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: of Darh and Traffic operations.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: We always appreciate your time. Thanks very much for coming in.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Thank you Godie.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: As always, we'll talk to you again very soon