LEVEL CROSSING PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
13/11/2012
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:54): I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Transport Services questions regarding pedestrian safety at level crossings.
Leave granted.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Around Australia and the world there is serious understandable concern about the impact on personnel involved in rail accidents. According to the TrackSAFE Foundation:
The rail network is a workplace…train drivers and rail employees who experience an incident can have lasting mental, physical and emotional trauma from witnessing such event.
A survey of the Belair line conducted on 12 November 2012 indicates that as few as four out of 24 pedestrian crossings are marked with a white safety line on the western side. There has been no change 12 months after a similar question to the minister. In what may now become an annual survey, it was observed from Lynton station to Adelaide on the western side of the railway: Barrett’s Road, Clapham—two crossings, no lines, and one faulty level crossing light.
There are no lines at the following crossings: Price Avenue between Clapham and Torrens Park; Wattlebury Road at Lower Mitcham; south-west of Mitcham station; Mitcham station; north of Mitcham station; Grange Road, Lower Mitcham; Angus Road, Hawthorn; Egmont Terrace, Hawthorn; Sussex Terrace, Hawthorn; Unley Park station; Llanfair Terrace; Cross Road; Jellicoe Avenue; Ningana Avenue; the Goodwood overpass; and Goodwood Bowling Club. My questions to the minister are:
1.Is the state government responsible for line marking on rail pedestrian crossings?
2.If this task is outsourced, what is the value of the contract and does it include line marking on both sides of the rail line and, if not, why not?
3.Will an audit of line marking on all metropolitan pedestrian rail crossings be undertaken?
4.Is there any plan for appropriate signage to be posted at locations known to be frequented by large numbers of people with intellectual disabilities?
5.Were any South Australian public servants funded to attend the 12th Global Level Crossing and Trespass Symposium from 7 to 12 October in London?
6.Will line markings be in place before the scheduled closure of the Belair line on 2 January?
7.When will the faulty level crossing light on Barretts Road, Lynton, which was reported on 5 November, be repaired?
The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:57): I thank the Hon. Ms Vincent for her very important questions. I will take them on notice and refer them to the Minister for Transport Services in another place and get an answer as soon as possible.
