It seems some drivers on the Lasseter Highway are thinking they are re-enacting the 1994 Cannonball Run from Darwin to The Rock.
Police say on Wednesday morning, a 23-year-old male learner driver was stopped after he was detected travelling 183 km/h in a 110 km/h zone.
The man’s vehicle was found to be unregistered and uninsured, the driver had failed to display his L plates and had no licenced passenger. He was issued with a Notice To Appear and conveyed to a nearby community.
The same driver was issued a second infringement notice after he was stopped in the same unregistered and uninsured vehicle that afternoon.
Sergeant Conan Robertson says in a media release that motorists’ attitude to high speeds and their own safety were too blasé: “Motorists were found to be driving 45 km/h above the speed limit. It doesn’t seem to worry some people that if they crash while travelling at these speeds in these remote areas, you are a long way from help.”
A 26-year-old woman was issued with a Notice To Appear after she was clocked travelling 109 km/h in a 60 km/h zone at Mt Ebeneezer on Tuesday afternoon.
Not long after, police issued an infringement notice to an international tourist who was recorded driving 169 km/h in a 110 km/h zone on the Lasseter Highway.
Officers observed the tourist drive off at speed, and later detected him travelling 107 km/h in an 80 km/h zone, and issued him with another traffic infringement.
“If Police had caught him again they would probably have had to arrest him,” said Sgt Robertson is quoted.
Police stopped a 25-year-old man for driving unlicensed, and later that afternoon detected a 26-year-old man travelling 176 km/h in a 130 km/h zone with unsecured loose objects in the tray of his ute.
Four people died in the Cannonball Run when a Ferrari (pictured) driven by a Japanese millionaire crashed into a checkpoint at high speed.
If NT police had a dedicated traffic unit patrolling the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Alice Springs and the Barkly Highway, more would be caught travelling at excessive speed.
Quite a few of those are NT Government vehicles like a Landcruiser Troop Carrier driven by a female driver clocked at 180kph on the Barkly Highway.
Those V8 Landcruiser troopies are just meant for cruising, apparently. Oh, what a feeling.