Mostly Indigenous pedestrians are dying violent deaths after being struck on Northern Territory roads. One in four drivers doesn't stop to help.
Helen Secretary grew up near one of Darwin's busiest roads, Bagot Road.
For as long as she can remember, the Larrakia woman has heard the sound of tyres screeching as vehicles collide with pedestrians.
"Our house was right near the road ... and we'd hear people getting hit," Helen says.
"As a child you see all these lights wondering what's going on, and then not realising until there's sorrow business that one of our family members has got hit."
Helen was a young woman when she lost her own mother, a respected health worker, on Bagot Road in the 1980s.
"I looked up to my mum a lot. She was my role model," she says.
Now a senior Larrakia elder, Helen has lost a string of loved ones on Northern Territory roads over the years.
"It's mostly our Indigenous people, and it has increased," she says.
Since 2019, 40 pedestrians have died on territory roads.
Most fatal crashes occurred at night, and nearly all fatalities were Indigenous people.
Detective Senior Sergeant Brendan Lindner, who leads NT Police's Major Crash Investigation Unit, says alcohol is the crux of the problem.
"We are seeing an increase in pedestrian fatalities in the Northern Territory," he says.
"By and large, they are all intoxicated."
Helen agrees alcohol abuse is a key factor, but says many of Darwin's major arterial roads are poorly lit and lack adequate pedestrian infrastructure.
As chairperson of the Gwalwa Daraniki Association, she's spent years lobbying the NT government for more lighting and safer crossings near Aboriginal town camps.
Residents of Bagot Community, where Helen grew up, frequently dodge six lanes of traffic to reach the nearest bus stop.
Three pedestrians were fatally struck on Bagot Road last year alone.
Pedestrians hit and left behind
NT Police data shows about a quarter of all pedestrian strikes over the past decade were hit-and-runs, where the driver has fled the scene.
"I'm sure there's a panic that sets in when you've hit a person," Detective Senior Sergeant Lindner says.
"But the penalty for taking off from a hit-and-run is significant."
A Darwin mother and son were jailed last year after trying to cover up a fatal hit-and-run on the Stuart Highway, which left a woman's severed leg on the road.
It's a painful subject for independent politician Yingiya Guyula.
His brother by kinship was killed in November last year on the Stuart Highway on Darwin's outskirts.
"Losing him was really saddening to my heart, and I blame myself," he says.
The Yolŋu MP believes his 66-year-old relative, who had poor eyesight, left his remote homeland to receive medical treatment in Darwin.
"There are more and more people coming to Darwin for various reasons — for medical [care], housing, accommodation, jobs," Mr Guyula says.
The driver who struck Mr Guyula's relative continued driving before eventually calling police.
By then, the injured man had staggered back onto the road and was fatally struck by a second car.
On the frontline
The NT's road death rate was about three times above the national average in 2022-23, according to the latest federal data.
Survivors can be left with debilitating injuries.
St John Ambulance NT received nearly 300 triple-0 calls for incidents involving vehicles and pedestrians in the past two years alone.
Ambulance services director Andrew Thomas says repeated exposure to road trauma is taking a toll on paramedics.
"We put on, at times, a brave face for the patients that we're dealing with and we try and be there and support them," he says.
"But I've spent plenty of times both with patients and after cases … shedding tears around what's happened."
NT government promises safety upgrades
The NT government has not increased its annual budget of $1.6 million for road safety education since 2015.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler said her government was investing $6.5 million for works to improve pedestrian infrastructure in Darwin and Alice Springs.
She said the NT government was working with Aboriginal services organisation Larrakia Nation and other stakeholders to help promote road safety, and part of that work included "speaking to pedestrians in high-risk areas".
A government spokesperson said the infrastructure department was increasing the walk time at crossings, and installing traffic signals on slip lanes to give priority to pedestrians.
"Bagot Road has been identified as a priority for street light upgrades," the spokesperson said.
Darwin City councillor Ed Smelt acknowledges the city has a real problem with pedestrian fatalities.
He says the council recently reduced the speed limits on most streets in the CBD to 40 kilometres per hour, and is looking at reducing speed limits in other areas.
Helen says she will continue warning remote visitors about the dangers of Darwin's traffic, while pushing for urgent safety upgrades near town camps.
"I think there needs to be more safety around the roads for the pedestrians to utilise," she says.
"A lot of pedestrians within Darwin have lost their lives."