Pedestrian deaths are declining in other states but still rising in the NT, where every victim last year was Aboriginal

It was 12 years ago, but Amos Fernando’s memory of the first time he saw someone hit by a car is visceral. 

WARNING: This story contains some graphic detail of road trauma that readers may find distressing.

At the time, he was standing at a busy bus stop on the side of the Stuart Highway in one of Darwin’s inner suburbs. 

The stop is across the road from a number of social housing unit blocks. The speed limit is 70 kilometres an hour.

“That man run across [the road] because people was chasing him…and he didn’t know which direction to go,” Mr Fernando said. 

“And suddenly the car just flip him over and go back down and start to smash his body.”

The driver of the car didn’t stop, Mr Fernando said.

 “It was really really sad, and I didn’t know that was my related countryman.”

The man, like Mr Fernando, was originally from the community of Wurrumiyanga on the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin.

But like Mr Fernando, he had been sleeping rough in Darwin.

At any one time, there are hundreds of people from mostly remote Aboriginal communities living in Darwin as “long grassers”.

The descriptor is used locally for people visiting or staying longer-term in Darwin and sleeping rough, some because of struggles with chronic alcohol addiction.

It’s this group that experts say are particularly vulnerable to being killed or seriously injured in pedestrian crashes.

“We see many long grass people here in Darwin, some of them walk, they don’t get a taxi … because taxis cost a lot [of money],” Mr Fernando said. 

“Then maybe people, they don’t look across the road when they get drunk.”

The NT has by far the highest rate of pedestrian crashes in the country.

The most recent data shows pedestrians were more than five and a half times more likely to die in a crash in the NT than the national average. 

And unlike the rest of the country, where pedestrians deaths are decreasing, the NT last year recorded its highest number of pedestrian deaths in ten years.

All 12 people killed were Aboriginal.

Government data shows First Nations people made up about 87 per cent of all pedestrians killed on NT roads since 2012, while representing only 30 per cent of the population. 

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“The statistics are high, but what’s … really astounding, is that it’s Aboriginal people taking up that increase,” said University of Technology Sydney law professor, Thalia Anthony. 

“They’re not just increasing overall, for both Aboriginal [and non-Aboriginal pedestrians]. It’s the Aboriginal pedestrians that are increasingly dying.”

‘It’s very very distressing’

The ABC spoke with Mr Fernando at the weekly barbecue for rough sleepers put on at Darwin’s Mindil Beach by Aboriginal service provider Larrakia Nation. 

That day, everyone who came to get a feed was also handed a fluorescent yellow T-shirt, distributed as part of campaign with the NT Government.

“We design shirts every year for visitors who come to town who aren’t really aware of the traffic conditions,” Larrakia Nation’s David Kurnoth said. 

The idea is that people wearing them anywhere near a road will be more visible to drivers, he said, which will “hopefully save a few lives.”

Mr Kurnoth said the difference in road and traffic conditions between remote communities and Darwin was stark. 

“We have people living rough close to the side of roads and it may be that they stumble out, whereas people who live in Darwin wouldn’t put themselves at risk that much,” Mr Kurnoth said. 

The flip side, he said, is a lack of awareness of the issue on the part of drivers, especially those more newly arrived in a city with high population turn-over.

“It’s the driver awareness as well, our drivers in Darwin aren’t necessarily all that aware,” he said.

Mr Kurnoth said the frequency of pedestrian road trauma has a profound impact on staff on the front lines. 

“We’re on the roads 21 out of 24 hours of the day,” he said.

“We deal with our long grass community every single day. We’re on a first-name basis with a lot of these people.

“So when we see one of those people who are put in that situation, where they’ve had an accident or something like that, it’s very, very distressing.”

Racism a factor in Aboriginal deaths, says expert

A lack of awareness is one thing.

But the ABC has also previously heard from those who feel some motorists drive aggressively or recklessly when someone is standing on or dangerously close to the road, or even just waiting to cross.

Professor Anthony’s research has included a focus on the Aboriginal social justice in transport and mobility in the Northern Territory.

She said NT governments had failed to “prioritise” efforts to address the overall problem.

“[It’s] not simply failing to generate evidence, it’s failing to send a message about the importance of these Aboriginal lives [of people] who die on roadways, as pedestrians,” she said.

Professor Anthony said she believes racism plays a part.

“I get this sense [when] in the Northern Territory, that there is a community there … but often Aboriginal people are excluded from that sense of community,” she said.

“And in the worst cases, Aboriginal people are demonised, and even treated with disrespect and potentially violence, including on the roads.”

In 2018, when  in at least three years, then-Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler said the government would look to increase the spend if required. 

Now-acting Infrastructure Minister Nicole Manison did not directly answer a question from the ABC about whether the government would consider introducing a driver awareness program on the issue.

Ms Manison said the government was “increasing funding” to road improvements and safety. 

She said the government has been “working closely with stakeholders” to improve road safety awareness within the Aboriginal community. 

A spokesperson for the department said the 2021/22 road safety budget was $1.649 million. 

‘Holistic’ plan needed to address homelessness

The majority of last year’s pedestrian fatalities happened in the greater Darwin and Alice Springs areas. 

Professor Anthony said a lack of funding to remote communities and homelands meant more people coming into town to access services, and more Aboriginal people were living rough. 

“People are pushed into major centres where they are more vulnerable to high speed vehicles and much bigger cars [than in remote areas],” she said. 

“The government can’t simply force people, effectively, out of remote communities, and expect that the cities will just be able to manage that with no cultural shift.” 

Remote Housing Minister Chansey Paech acknowledged “resourcing problems” impacting remote communities across the NT.  

He said he and federal member for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour, had raised the issue of a lack of Centrelink services in remote areas with the federal government. 

“We know first-hand that is contributing to a range of people having to come into Alice Springs or into those larger communities to access those vital services,” Mr Paech said. 

He also said there was a “concerted effort” within the NT’s Aboriginal Justice Agreement to promote driver awareness and road safety. 

The wide-ranging plan is aimed at reducing incarceration rates as well as improving justice responses and services for Aboriginal Territorians.

In the meantime, Amos Fernando said he’s trying to keep himself and others safe.

“The first time I [saw] a person like that get hit…I spoke to all my people: ‘learn to drink, socialise in moderation,” he said. 

“We live here in Darwin long grass, and we should look after ourselves, we have to support ourselves.”