Quote: ONE person has been killed and 15 injured when a 4WD collided with a road train near Daly River, some 200km south west of Darwin. Police say the driver of the Toyota Troop Carrier was the only occupant wearing a seatbelt, while a further 16 adults and children were travelling in the vehicle.
It appeared the road train was travelling on a dirt road about 22km west of Daly River last night when it slowed to cross a cattle grid, raising a cloud of dust behind it.
A police spokeswoman said it seemed the 4WD had collided with the back of the road train.
One male passenger had died at the scene, while 15 were transported to Royal Darwin Hospital.
One of those, a 15-year-old girl, was in a critical condition while a 64-year-old male and a 54-year-old female were in a serious but stable condition.
Twelve others were being treated and it was not currently known how many would be admitted to hospital.
The police spokeswoman said the matter was being investigated by northern traffic operations crash investigators and it was not known whether or not alcohol was a factor.
The incident took the Northern Territory's road toll so far this year to 17, compared to 15 for the same time last year.
I bin to daly sh!thole to do work at the community centre and the roads arent to bad out there, and we really dont need to question the ethnicity of the you mob's - we all know that there is only 1 race that can get away with cramming that many people in a troop carrier.
They wouldnt have been speeding as you cant buy that out there (thankyou thankyou, ill be here all night :) ) and with the the condition (im assuming here) of the royalty paid vehicle, going over the speed limit would have been a tad hard and its only like 60-80 out there on the freshly graded dirt roads...
my mate was the 3rd person at the scene. From what he told me, the road train (had 2 extra carriages on a dirt road) kept driving as the trooper his his back and lost control the the vechile. Being a road train on dirt road (and also dusty and winedy) he would not have even felt it if he had just touched the trooper.
There were shit loads of cops at the scene and after about 5mins - they just kept driving to their destination
If what you say is true, then it would indicate the last dog snaked and clipped the 4WD, which is entirely possible on a windy day (and more-so on dirt roads). Lighter vehicles have even been known to be 'sucked' into the middle of the road in the wake of a Roadtrain.
Does he mean 2 extra dogs as in, the maximum 3+2? Or Prime-mover +2? I think (going from memory) there are extremely few places in Australia that allow the use of over 3 dogs on public roads (and its usually limited to remote areas around mining sites). I think the only exception to the rule is 3x14(16?)wheel + Tandem.
More than likely though, the 4WD did'nt move over or slow down (as any informed driver should know to do, on a dirt road while passing a Roadtrain, or even on bitumen roads if narrow) as the Roadtrain passed him.
But it's ok, we have speed limits to prevent it right? Maybe more should be spent on driver education. Or is that too much of a radical approach for our Government? Anyone remember the 'Road train awareness' campaign they aired in Darwin? I recall 'uproar' over them depicting an Aboriginal driver not using shoes. Setting an awesome example right there.
Those points aside, why does the govt issue communities with troop carriers when this kind of activity (over person load) is known to be common-place? I could go on forever about double standards, but I will more than likely encite a race argument.
/end early morning rant.
Edit - They didn't specify if they were passing each other, if the Roadtrain was stationary or if the Troopy was overtaking. Assuming it was passing each other front on though.
Quote from Milenko;311226: If what you say is true, then it would indicate the last dog snaked and clipped the 4WD, which is entirely possible on a windy day (and more-so on dirt roads). Lighter vehicles have even been known to be 'sucked' into the middle of the road in the wake of a Roadtrain.
Does he mean 2 extra dogs as in, the maximum 3+2? Or Prime-mover +2? I think (going from memory) there are extremely few places in Australia that allow the use of over 3 dogs on public roads (and its usually limited to remote areas around mining sites). I think the only exception to the rule is 3x14(16?)wheel + Tandem.
More than likely though, the 4WD did'nt move over or slow down (as any informed driver should know to do, on a dirt road while passing a Roadtrain, or even on bitumen roads if narrow) as the Roadtrain passed him.
But it's ok, we have speed limits to prevent it right? Maybe more should be spent on driver education. Or is that too much of a radical approach for our Government? Anyone remember the 'Road train awareness' campaign they aired in Darwin? I recall 'uproar' over them depicting an Aboriginal driver not using shoes. Setting an awesome example right there.
Those points aside, why does the govt issue communities with troop carriers when this kind of activity (over person load) is known to be common-place? I could go on forever about double standards, but I will more than likely encite a race argument.
/end early morning rant.
Edit - They didn't specify if they were passing each other, if the Roadtrain was stationary or if the Troopy was overtaking. Assuming it was passing each other front on though.
I've heard they were following the road train in the dust and just piled into the back end. Tailgating on dirt roads = lose.