The Automobile Association of the Northern Territory’s (AANT) 2026 Risky Roads Report, based on 824 submissions collected between February 12 and March 31, 2026, identifies specific roads, intersections, and recurring hazard types across Greater Darwin, regional NT, and the Stuart Highway corridor. The NT recorded a road fatality rate of 12.0 per 100,000 people for the 12 months ending June 2026 – the highest of any Australian jurisdiction, and nearly double that of Western Australia, which recorded the second-highest rate at 6.3 per 100,000. That trajectory runs counter to national targets: by the end of 2024, Australia was 46% behind its target trajectory under the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, which aims to halve annual fatalities by 2030, and the fatality rate continued to rise in 2025, according to a November 2025 submission to the strategy’s mid-term review by Engineers Australia and the Transport Australia Society.
