Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Officer in Charge of Traffic Operation in the NT Senior Sergeant John Ginnane talks of the troubling start to Fatality Free Friday with several crashes in Darwin today

Transcript

Officer in Charge of Traffic Operation in the NT Senior Sergeant John Ginnane talks of the troubling start to Fatality Free Friday with several crashes in Darwin today · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But as we mentioned just a little while ago in
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the local news, we've got a situation where a woman's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: in a critical condition in the Royal Darwin Hospital after
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: an alleged hit and run in the darw And CBD
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  Speaker 1: on Friday morning. We also know well today is fatality
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  Speaker 1: free Friday. And joining us on the line to talk
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more Aboucher well some of what has
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  Speaker 1: happened on the roads overnight, but also the fact that
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: it is fatality free Friday, is John Ganain, who is
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  Speaker 1: indeed the officer in charge of traffic operations with the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police. Senior Sergeant John Ganain, Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: To you, Good morning, Katie, Good morning everyone.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning, John, I
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  Speaker 1: know it must be a very busy one. Firstly, this
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  Speaker 1: terrible news overnight that a woman's in a critical condition
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  Speaker 1: in Royal Darwin Hospital after an alleged hit and run
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  Speaker 1: in the CBD.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Happened about four o'clock this morning in
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  Speaker 2: the city, right at the start of Tiger brand and Drive. Unfortunately,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: a lady, for reasons yet to be determined, was on
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  Speaker 2: the roadway. She appears to have been struck by a vehicle.
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  Speaker 2: That vehicle was later identified. The driver the vehicle was identified.
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  Speaker 2: He's been arrested and he's now downstairs at the Parmeston
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  Speaker 2: Watchhouse answering some questions, John, I.
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  Speaker 1: Would imagine there will obviously be an investigation that gets
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  Speaker 1: underway now to determine exactly.
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  Speaker 3: What's gone on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly right, Katie. The investigation will obviously canvas how
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  Speaker 2: and why this lady happened to be on the roadway
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  Speaker 2: in the first place, the circumstances of her being struck
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  Speaker 2: by a car, and the circumstances as well around why
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  Speaker 2: the driver of the car. Apparently, at this stage, according
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  Speaker 2: to the information, we have failed to fail to immediately stop,
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  Speaker 2: failed to help the lady out, and failed to report
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  Speaker 2: the incident to police as soon as possible.
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  Speaker 3: John, very early days, of course.
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  Speaker 1: But is there any suggestion that there's alcohol or speed involved.
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  Speaker 2: No, not at this stage, Coatie. It appears at this stage.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this will develop over time, as all these
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  Speaker 2: investigations do, but it will be made a lot simpler
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  Speaker 2: for all concerned, not just the police who turn up
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  Speaker 2: to these sorts of things. But it's a reminder for
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  Speaker 2: drivers if you think you have hit something on the
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  Speaker 2: road that even remotely could have been a person. Just stop,
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  Speaker 2: stop and help where you can. If you feel in
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  Speaker 2: danger for whatever reason, then drive to a place of
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  Speaker 2: safety immediately and then report it to the police, because
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  Speaker 2: that will save you having to be asked a lot
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  Speaker 2: of fairly difficult questions and an environment that is not
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  Speaker 2: of your choosing. So please help the police to help you.
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  Speaker 2: And you need to get in front of this straightaway.
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  Speaker 2: If you're the driver of a car, have.
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  Speaker 1: We any idea how like, how you know after the
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  Speaker 1: woman had been hit, how the police were made aware
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  Speaker 1: of it, you know, if it was a hit and run,
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  Speaker 1: did another bystander locate her?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we don't know. I haven't got those exact details
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  Speaker 2: in front of me, Katie, but what I can tell
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  Speaker 2: you is that we have quite a lot of cameras
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  Speaker 2: in the city, and we've got quite a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people looking at those cameras, and it would be a
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  Speaker 2: fair assumption to make that those cameras played at least
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  Speaker 2: a significant part in identifying the vehicle and identifying the driver.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, right, that is a very good point, John.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a great start, is it to fatality free Friday?
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  Speaker 1: I know that this woman is in a critical condition,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, a serious crash like this is not
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  Speaker 1: a good way to start a day like Fatality free Friday.
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  Speaker 2: We do. Fatality free Fridays is one of the aspirational
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  Speaker 2: campaigns that we run all police forces across the country
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  Speaker 2: try and get to have a particular Friday without a
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  Speaker 2: fatality anywhere on Australian raids. We got as far as
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  Speaker 2: four hours into the NT's version of this. But hopefully,
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  Speaker 2: hopefully this lady who is receiving some top quality medical
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  Speaker 2: care as I understand it, hopefully this lady survives, makes
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  Speaker 2: a recovery and all that sort of thing. But we've
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  Speaker 2: still got a fair bit of Friday to gay. So
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  Speaker 2: drivers on the raids, I know you're heading into the weekend,
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  Speaker 2: and I know people driving home are going to be
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  Speaker 2: preoccupied with football and going to the pub later and
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  Speaker 2: sport on the weekend and the kids and whatever else
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  Speaker 2: needs to be done. But just make sure you get
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  Speaker 2: home in one piece, and remember that you have a
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  Speaker 2: contract with other drivers to make sure that everybody else
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  Speaker 2: gets to where they need to be as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, totally, and John, we are just receiving or we
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  Speaker 1: just received a call from one of our listeners saying
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  Speaker 1: that there's a car that's crashed into a pole at
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  Speaker 1: the corner of Trail Road and Dripstone Road heading towards Casarina.
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  Speaker 1: It does sound like it could just be a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a bengal but but yeah, there is a bit
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  Speaker 1: happening out there on the roads at the moment, isn't there.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we've got that one that you just mentioned there, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: We had the other one that caused which was a
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  Speaker 2: bit more noticeable because it caused all those traffic problems
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  Speaker 2: on Tiger brewn And Drive this morning. As with all
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  Speaker 2: the fatal accidents that I spoke about the other day,
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  Speaker 2: nearly all of these are preventable. Nearly all of them
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  Speaker 2: are directly caused by human error. And we all make
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  Speaker 2: mistakes on the road a varying degree from time to
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  Speaker 2: time at some point in our lives. But we'll just
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  Speaker 2: take care understand that it's not all about you. It's
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  Speaker 2: about the other motorists on the road as well. Understand
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  Speaker 2: that you are piloting up to a tunnel more of
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  Speaker 2: steel and glass at considerable speed, and not a lot
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  Speaker 2: of things are worth not getting home alive.
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  Speaker 3: Exactly now.
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  Speaker 1: We also know that yesterday we took a call from
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  Speaker 1: one of our listeners, Jane, who had said that there'd
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  Speaker 1: been a road rage incident in which her husband was involved.
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  Speaker 1: I understand that there has now been a notice to
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  Speaker 1: appear in court following on from that incident.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, this was a particularly appalling display, Katie, of public incivility.
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  Speaker 2: We're not as a public police with this incident here.
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  Speaker 2: We're not particularly interested in what appears to be a
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  Speaker 2: minor dispute over people cutting someone else off in traffic.
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  Speaker 2: This particular incident ended with both drivers parking up in
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  Speaker 2: Yarrawonga and deciding to have an ineffective punch on in
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  Speaker 2: the view of other people and businesses, and causing a
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  Speaker 2: danger to traffic as well. Now that incident ended with
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  Speaker 2: one fellow on his hands and knees, it will be
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  Speaker 2: alleged in court that the other driver then kicked the
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  Speaker 2: driver who was on his hands and knees before being
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  Speaker 2: stopped by police who were arriving at the time. The
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  Speaker 2: fact is both of these people, being silly enough to
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  Speaker 2: engage in a fight in a public place have been
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  Speaker 2: given infringements for that, and the person doing the kicking,
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  Speaker 2: alleged kicking, I should say he is also received a
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  Speaker 2: notice to appear and he will turn up in court
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  Speaker 2: at a later date.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, it sounded like a terrible incident when we
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  Speaker 1: spoke about it yesterday. And I know that when we
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  Speaker 1: had heard from the wife of one of those one
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  Speaker 1: of those drivers, the alleged victim of the kicking, you know, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: she had said that she didn't think that it was
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  Speaker 1: going to turn into the situation that it did.
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  Speaker 3: But is it a reminder as well for us, John?
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  Speaker 1: You know, like at the end of the day, if
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  Speaker 1: something like that happens, you know, the last thing we
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  Speaker 1: should be doing is sort of engaging with the other driver.
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  Speaker 2: No, exactly right, and ran Frankly, I don't know what's
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  Speaker 2: in these people's heads. We're a minor dispute over whose
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  Speaker 2: lane belongs to who, and all this sort of thing
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  Speaker 2: suddenly devolves into public fisticuffs. No doubt it would have
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  Speaker 2: been an embarrassing spectacle because we've all seen the clips
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  Speaker 2: on social media about drivers engaging in raid rage fights
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  Speaker 2: and all that sort of stuff. And I've got to say,
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  Speaker 2: I've yet to see anyone in those clips that's actually
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  Speaker 2: good at it. So I don't know what these people
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  Speaker 2: are attempting to prove to anybody by wanting to take
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  Speaker 2: on the driver of another car in relation to what
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  Speaker 2: may have been a simple mistake. But all they do
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  Speaker 2: is escalate the situation and rest assured, as happened the
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  Speaker 2: other day on Tuesday, if it comes to our attention,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to take the appropriate action.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and it sounds bloody terrible, then you know when
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  Speaker 1: you've got this, when you've got an alleged kicking of
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  Speaker 1: somebody else. Honestly, it sounded like a pretty woffle situation.
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  Speaker 1: I've got a you know, I would say, but John, look,
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  Speaker 1: is there much else happening on the roads at the
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  Speaker 1: moment that we should be aware of.
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  Speaker 3: It seems as though you guys are incredibly busy at
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  Speaker 3: the moment.
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  Speaker 2: We are busy. We do get the usual array of
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  Speaker 2: people have a deep minor accidents and all that sort
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  Speaker 2: of thing. There was a person driving a car that
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  Speaker 2: was distracted coming down the Stuart Highway of pine Lands
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  Speaker 2: yesterday afternoon and ended up in a ditch near the
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  Speaker 2: Median Street. And again we believe distraction was one of
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  Speaker 2: the causes of that accident. We keep going on about distractions,
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  Speaker 2: but people seem to keep doing the same thing again
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  Speaker 2: and again again. But today it's Friday, it's the dry season.
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  Speaker 2: People want to enjoy the weekend. The best way to
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  Speaker 2: ensure you're going to enjoy that weekend is to drive safely.
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  Speaker 2: Remember it's not just about you, it's about other people.
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  Speaker 2: Or as hard as you can please to avoid an
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  Speaker 2: embarrassing spectacle like the one that members of the public
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  Speaker 2: witness in Yarawanga on Tuesday. Because punching on in public
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  Speaker 2: on the street as a result of minor infringements, it's
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  Speaker 2: just it's bad manners. There's no decorum, it's preventable, it's avoidable,
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  Speaker 2: and it's not necessary. And the people conducting these sorts
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  Speaker 2: of things are generally no good at fighting anyway, so
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what they're trying to achieve.
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  Speaker 1: Well, John Ganaine, thank you very much for your time
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  Speaker 1: this morning. The Senior Sergeant of Officer in charge of
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  Speaker 1: Darwin Traffic Operations.
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  Speaker 3: We appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 2: No worries, Katie, have a good weekend you too.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Thank you