Pedestrian safety at rail crossings with the ABC
09/02/2013
Kelly Vincent, Dignity for Disability MLC (891ABC 7.19-7.23) Pedestrian safety at rail crossings
(Bevan: Kelly Vincent is a Member of Parliament with Dignity for Disability … she joins us now … you’re particularly worried about the station up at Lynton, why so?)
Well that’s correct. Dignity for Disability had a long history of advocating for rail safety … we’re having to do this yet again after a man was hit by a train … injured at Lynton station.
(Abraham: Now why for people with disabilities is Lynton station a particular concern?)
… I don’t think the disability angle is particularly the key issue here, although I will say that Lynton station is close to Baliana [phonetic] where a number of people with intellectual disability are employed … we did advocate that automatic gates were installed at the Lonsdale station after a man who was intellectually disabled was unfortunately killed some time ago attempting to cross the line … I don’t think the disability angle is what’s key here, what is key is it’s actually for all who use rails.
(Bevan: So why is that particular station dangerous?)
There are no automatic gates and I believe no adequate line markings on both sides of the tracks … our question is how hard is it to get out a can of paint … at every station that doesn’t currently have line markings on both sides of the track and ensure adequate safety.
(Abraham: Now you’ve been calling on the Transport Services Minister, Chloe Fox, and the State Government to do something about this for months, correct?)
That’s right, over 20 months ago we asked questions on the issue of rail safety and we’ve written to Minister Fox’s office and have yet to receive an adequate response … again the question is, how hard is it to tackle this issue? We see Government spending thousands of dollars on expensive and slick advertising campaigns about rail safety and metaphors about what getting hit by a train is like, but we simply don’t see them doing the simple basic, on the ground realistic safety measures that actually make a difference to people’s lives.
(Abraham: So they haven’t even at Lynton for instance, or any of the stations, any of the pedestrian crossings, put new paint down? I mean that would be reasonably cheap.)
You would think so, unless you’re using the very glossy paints.
Abraham: … gold paint, maybe gold paint.)
I don’t know, I think there’s some visibility problem with that … we don’t want to blind people … again the question is, how hard is it to get out a can of paint and ensure that there are lines on both sides, not just one, both sides? You would think that while they were there they could do two lines instead of one.
(Abraham: Now the Salisbury Mayor … has said automatic gates are needed at all stations and urged residents to be careful when crossing train lines … so this is obviously across the network, it’s not confined to the Lynton or other pedestrian crossings there, but a Transport Department spokeswoman – this is according to the piece by News Review Messenger’s … Dwayne Schultz [phonetic] – “A Transport Department spokeswoman said, ‘safety measures at stations were constantly reviewed to protect the public and Adelaide Metro staff’. She said, ‘safety upgrades at any of the 30 stops on the Gawler line would not be considered until police have completed an investigation into the incident’.” You do wonder why you would need to have a police investigation into that individual incident; it’s not as though this is the first time … a person’s been hurt at a pedestrian crossing … it’s very fortunate that the one last Friday wasn’t a death, but a person was injured at Lynton.)
Yes absolutely … are we going to wait for another death until our Government starts to take this issue very seriously? Again we have the reviews, we have the talk, but we simply don’t see the on the ground practices that make the actual difference to people’s safety … as soon as I get off the phone with you I’ll be writing to Minister Fox again, making contact with her and raising that point yet again.
(Bevan: When did you first raise these matters with the State Government?)
As I said earlier we raised these questions in Parliament, but yet haven’t received responses from the Minister 20 months ago.
(Bevan: 20 months ago?)
That’s correct.
(Bevan: All right. Well Kelly Vincent, thank you for talking to us.)
Thank you. Thanks for your interest on this important issue.
(Abraham: It is an interesting issue.)
(Bevan: Kelly Vincent, she’s a Member of State Parliament’s Upper House with the Dignity for Disability group.)
Chloe Fox, Transport Services Minister (891ABC 7.23-7.26) Pedestrian safety at rail crossings
(Bevan: Now Chloe Fox is the Transport Services Minister … she’s called in to 891 Breakfast … what do you say to the issues raised by Kelly Vincent?)
All issues of rail safety are extremely important and the State Government has through programs at Hove, one of the crossings at Salisbury and of course tragically at Lonsdale responded to these issues. At Lonsdale it was in fact an intellectually disabled man who was killed there … we responded to that by putting in place new infrastructure. So this is something that we do respond to, that we’re always concerned about and it’s certainly something that I’ll be discussing with one of my ministerial colleagues today.
(Abraham: The question of the Lynton station and others on that line, Kelly Vincent – apart from wanting automatic gates and other upgrading – was just talking about new line markings, new white paint.)
Yep, well I mean that’s certainly a good issue to have raised. Really happy to speak to the department about it today.
(Abraham: … why today? She’s been raising this in Parliament for 20 months.)
… now I stand to be corrected here, but I don’t know that I actually have a specific letter from her about that. I will go back and check the correspondence. Having said that, having heard what she was saying this morning very happy to talk to someone about it today.
(Abraham: It can’t be that hard, can it?)
(Bevan: She says she raised these issues in Parliament 20 months ago … this isn’t the first time, I think she’s done it several times, but in terms of correspondence I don’t know when the letter was sent off but she raised it in Parliament by way of questions to you.)
20 months ago?
(Bevan: 20 months ago.)
Right okay, well as I said I’ll go back and look at that, but you’re right, you’re absolutely right white paint should not be an issue, unless of course the Australian track people have some issue, but I can’t see that they would and it is certainly something important that’s been raised this morning. In terms of correspondence … I certainly haven’t had anything recently, but I’ll go back and take a look.
(Abraham: Transport Services Minister, Chloe Fox, thank you for talking to us, for calling in.)
Thanks.
(Abraham: And Kelly Vincent, Dignity for Disability MLC.)
