Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Officer In Charge of Darwin Traffic Operations Senior Sergeant John Ginnane says today's Day of Action for Road Safety is all about driver distraction

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Officer In Charge of Darwin Traffic Operations Senior Sergeant John Ginnane says today's Day of Action for Road Safety is all about driver distraction · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But we also know that as part of Road Safety Week. Well,
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  Speaker 1: today is National Day of Action for Road Safety and
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  Speaker 1: I am joined on the line right now by the
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  Speaker 1: Officer in charge of DAR and Traffic Operations, Senior Sergeant
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  Speaker 1: John Ganaine. Good morning to you, John.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: John. What is the main focus of the National Day
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  Speaker 1: of Action this year?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the National Day of Action is something that we
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  Speaker 2: promote across every state and territory in the country, and
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  Speaker 2: today is that day. And the focus of today is
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  Speaker 2: on driver distraction and by that we mean effectively it's
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  Speaker 2: texting to picking up phones and otherwise being distracted by
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  Speaker 2: children or other sort of things and eating that takes
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  Speaker 2: your attention off the important matter at hand, which should
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  Speaker 2: be your surroundings while you're driving.
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  Speaker 1: So it is one of those things that a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people maybe feel as though it's not as bad
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  Speaker 1: as speeding or drunk driving, but at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the day, it is still something that is causing road trauma.
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  Speaker 2: Where is this, Well, it does, and you're quite correct, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: and it happens at all sorts of speeds, and people
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  Speaker 2: for some reason seem to think it's okay because I
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  Speaker 2: was only doing forty or fifty kilometers an hour and
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  Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. But that doesn't take long,
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  Speaker 2: particularly if you're in a school zone, for a child
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  Speaker 2: to run out on the roadway, or any of the
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  Speaker 2: multitude of things that can happen to a driver on
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  Speaker 2: the road, which is not necessarily their fault, except in
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  Speaker 2: these circumstances it will be their fault because they're not
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  Speaker 2: paying attention to what's around them. And unfortunately, people have
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  Speaker 2: died and died recently as a result of this exact
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  Speaker 2: sort of activity, and people think it's inconsequential. Most people
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  Speaker 2: have done it, or have at least thought hard about
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  Speaker 2: doing it. But you know, the analogy I use is
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  Speaker 2: that you wouldn't try and tie your shoelaces while you're
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  Speaker 2: driving a car. And it's exactly the same as reaching
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  Speaker 2: down to pick up a phone to see who's texted you.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone likes being texted, everyone likes receiving phone calls, everyone
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  Speaker 2: likes being swiped right on Tinder. But you know what's
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  Speaker 2: more important. More important is getting where you need to
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  Speaker 2: be in the one place at the one time, rather
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  Speaker 2: than seeing who's contacted you that thinks you're all right.
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  Speaker 1: You spot on that is so true, And I love
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  Speaker 1: your analogies actually, John, I reckon, They're awesome and they
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  Speaker 1: certainly make it very easy for us all to understand. Mate,
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  Speaker 1: how are we going at the moment when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to our road toll? I know that when you and
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  Speaker 1: I spoke, I think it was around Easter, things were
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  Speaker 1: not looking so good. How are we going at this
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  Speaker 1: point in time?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we went doing all that well at East
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  Speaker 2: Accadia and we've tailed off since then. Unfortunately, the road
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  Speaker 2: toll as a result of a facility two days ago
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  Speaker 2: on Bladder, which now stands at nineteen for the year,
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  Speaker 2: which is more than twice what we were at last year.
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  Speaker 2: And the initial, although not always investigations have been complete,
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  Speaker 2: is a very fair submission to make that almost all
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  Speaker 2: those deaths were preventable, and it's preventable by doing simple things.
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  Speaker 2: We reinforce them in the fatal five where you seat belt,
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  Speaker 2: don't speak, don't drive intoxicated, don't be distracted, all these
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  Speaker 2: sort of basic things that people tend to forget, and
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  Speaker 2: it kills you. And if it's not killed, if it
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  Speaker 2: doesn't kill you, if you do these sorts of things
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  Speaker 2: on any sort of regular basis, or even on a
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  Speaker 2: one off occasion, you'll have plenty of time to think
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  Speaker 2: about how you shouldn't be there when you're sitting in
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  Speaker 2: a wheelchair in line at the disabled toilet with a
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  Speaker 2: full colostomy bag, because this actually happens to people.
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  Speaker 1: It is. You know, it is so important that we
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  Speaker 1: all do make sure that we're doing the right thing
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  Speaker 1: on the road. I know that yesterday, you know, there
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  Speaker 1: was the event the Street Smart High I believe it's
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  Speaker 1: called for the younger people that are sort of coming
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  Speaker 1: up and getting their licenses, and you know, it's about
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  Speaker 1: education for our youngsters, but it's also about educating some
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  Speaker 1: of us that are older as well, and just making
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  Speaker 1: sure that we're all doing the right thing on our roads.
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  Speaker 2: No, that's right. I actually went to the streets Light
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  Speaker 2: High Performance yesterday and it was packed full of I
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  Speaker 2: think about seven or eight different schools where there it
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  Speaker 2: was a combined effort from the combined different from all
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  Speaker 2: the people who would usually turn up at an accident scene.
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  Speaker 2: So he had the police turn up, and the ambulance
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  Speaker 2: turn up, and the fieries turn up, and our major
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  Speaker 2: crash people turn up, and they went through the motions
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  Speaker 2: of what would happen in a real life accident scene,
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  Speaker 2: and a death message was delivered to some actors who
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  Speaker 2: were playing the parents of someone who had died in
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  Speaker 2: a motor accident, and these sort of things. It takes
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  Speaker 2: away from the takes it away from being just strictly conceptual.
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  Speaker 2: I you can die by doing this, but this actually happens,
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  Speaker 2: and this is actually how it happens, and this is
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  Speaker 2: why it happens. These more importantly for the younger people,
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  Speaker 2: these are the consequences. So don't do it. You mightn't
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  Speaker 2: think it's much texting while you're driving, all that sort
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  Speaker 2: of thing. Oh it's just a quick text. I'll just
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  Speaker 2: see if I can find the writer major And all
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  Speaker 2: of a sudden you're not looking where you should be going,
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  Speaker 2: and you're going to wreck. You run the substantial risk
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  Speaker 2: of wrecking a whole lot of lives, including your own,
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  Speaker 2: but more importantly other people's lives.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely well, John Godain, we always appreciate your time, particularly
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  Speaker 1: on Road Safety weekend today as the National Day of
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  Speaker 1: Action for Road Safety. Thank you very much for having
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  Speaker 1: a chat.
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  Speaker 2: With us anytime. Gatie, thank you, thank you.