WARNING BELLS at KERANG
WARNING BELLS -------TRAINS STILL NO MAJOR CHANGES
ARE WE GOING TO HAVE YET ANOTHER COMMITTEE?
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/trs/trains/report/report.pdf
POLITICIANS WERE AFFECTED BY THE TRAUMA THEY
WITTNESSED IN KERANG
THIS IS THE TRAUMA THAT ORDINARY VICTORIANS ARE
SUFFERING EVERY DAY WITH ROAD TRAUMA
THIS IS THE TRAUMA WE LIVE WITH EVERYDAY
THESE ARE THE VISIONS MANY OF US HAVE
THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE ARE SCREAMING ABOUT
IT IS A HORRIFIC WAY TO DIE
IT IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT
IT SHOULD BE THE GOVERNMENTS MOST IMPORTANT JOB
PREVENTING THESE DEATHS IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE
THE GOVERNMENT HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE IT
PERHAPS ALL POLITICIANS SHOULD BE FORCED TO
ATTEND FATALS ALONG WITH EMERGENCY WORKERS
AND THE POLICE WHO HAVE TO ATTEND TO THESE
TRAGEDIES FOR THEM TO UNDERSTAND
MAYBE NOW THEY FINALLY GET IT
When people complain about roads, or road situations, they
should be listened to.
Warning bells should go off
These experts have a lot to answer for if they have ignored
train drivers complaints about a particular crossing.
If the experts eventually go out to a site because of
complaints, and deem the site to be safe, despite the road/rail
users complaining that the system isn’t working, then the
criteria to make that decision must be changed.
If complaints are made and the experts cannot see why there
should be an issue, then that should be seen as a huge
problem, not dismissed as an impossibility because it doesn’t fit
the report criteria.
How can they walk away and dismiss the complaints especially
when time and time again they are proved wrong?
One example is Donald where seven people were killed on a
section of road that locals had complained about for years.
The experts disagreed it was an urgent problem and it was put
onto the waiting list.
The road was on the waiting list for years and years
Seven people lost their lives.
Then the road was fixed.
Too Late
People do not complain about road safety for the sake of it.
Below is an article about a tragic country rail crossing crash in 1960 involving a school bus
It is an amazing story
Has anything changed on trains to make them more visible?
Reflective strips on Trains?
Moving lights?
http://www.gardencentre.com.au/traralgonhistory/School_Bus_Crash.htm
Perhaps instead of the government telling us what they will
not do because of costs, they could tell us what they will do?
We know changes are costly, so what?
The government must change its priorities in the way it
spends OUR money and put saving lives on top of the list.
Don’t insult us by using cost as a reason not to protect
innocent lives
Put Human life first for once
The fact the Government doesn’t put life first in their decision
making process is one of the reasons people die on our roads
Cost as an excuse doesn’t cut it anymore.
In these days of high income and extravagant behavior by our
decision makers we deserve better too.
The cost to the Victorian Government to find Tony Mokbel and
bring him back will be a drop in the ocean compared to the cost
of fixing the Kerang rail crossing.
All for a man who was already in custody and should never have
been given bail in the first place.
Such a waste of our resources and we are told there isn any
money for rail crossings
Any decisions that Governments need to make should have
one question on the top of the page.
That question should be
DOES THE RESULT OF THIS DECISION INVOLVE HUMAN
LIFE
If the answer is yes, then money should not be a consideration.
The problem must be solved
That should be the criteria
If people have complained about something they believe will
cost life and it isn’t fixed and innocent people lose their life,
then maybe there should be more than one person charged.
If the truck driver is culpable in this case then 100% driver
responsibility applies.
Relying only on the method of ‘educating drivers’ is costing
many people their lives.
Education, without change, is only effective during the
education process.
Education without enforcement is equally as useless
Train Illumination:
Inquiry into Some Measures Proposed to Improve Train
Visibility and Reduce Level Crossing Accidents
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/trs/trains/report/report.pdf
Duration: unclear. Report presented: June 24, 2004 after four
public submissions and three briefings in Canberra. Witnesses:
eight.
Recommendations: five, including that all rolling stock be fitted
with reflective strips.
List of recommendations
Recommendation1 ...................................................................12
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government take steps,through the Transport
Ministers Council, to require that all locomotivesand rolling stock in the Australian rail industry are
fitted with standardreflective strips or reflective paint and that all locomotives are fitted
withrotating beacons lights.
Recommendation 2 ..........................................................................................................15
The committee recommends that the Australian Government seek thenational adoption of a level
crossing risk scoring system based on theQueensland model and adapted for local conditions.
Recommendation 3 ........................................................................................16
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government initiate,through the Transport
Ministers Council, a program to install, as aminimum, rumble strips at high accident risk level
crossings.
Recommendation 4 ...........................................................................................17
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government throughthe Transport Ministers
Council, support continued research into theefficacy of train activated rumble strips with a view to
the installation ofthese strips at the most dangerous level crossings.
Recommendation 5 ................................................................................................18
The Committee recommends that the Department of Transport andRegional Services, with state
transport departments, formally look at theCanadian based level crossing education program,
‘Operation Lifesaver’,for the possible adoption into Australian state road safety programs.
VICTORIA COPS A BLAST IN THIS NSW REPORT INTO TRAIN SAFETY
STAYSAFE Committee PROGRESS IN IMPROVING THE SAFETY OFRAILWAY LEVEL
CROSSINGS
STAYSAFE 81 Report No. 24/53 – December
2006http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/Committee
The following section concerns Victoria
SOCHON: The next slide is a graphic one which David knows all too well
and could speak in a great deal of detail about.
I do not intend to do that but will simply reinforce what we are here for.
This is a Victorian incident.
It is not a New South Wales one, but it could occur anywhere around the
country.
Mr EDWARDS: This incident occurred on 28 April 2006 at a place called
Lismore in Victoria.
It is on the main interstate corridor between Melbourne and Adelaide. It is
the largest ever train collision that we as an organisation have had. We
are approximately $15 million out of pocket.
It was caused through a local truck driver, as they most often turn out
to be in level crossing accidents involving a car driver or a truck driver.
A high percentage of them are local people, which is an incredible human
factor issue.
Fog was an issue here—there is no question about that—but the
interesting point here is that I note your report, which we certainly
endorse, commented at one stage on the culture of people wanting to
blame the train or blame the train driver.
Here is one of those rare occasions where the truck ran into the train.
We had three locomotives on the train.
The semitrailer ran into the trailing end of the side of the second
locomotive and hit it at approximately 72 km/h.
The train was doing 110 km/h, its permissible speed, with about 5,000
tonnes of momentum.
The truck punched the second locomotive off the line and the rest
followed.
The truck driver died in the accident.
It took us five days to find his body.
It involved 95 shipping containers, 46 wagons, and 700,000 bottles of
Barossa Valley wine that were all heading for a ship for export out of
Melbourne.
I am disappointed to say to the Committee today that this accident can
happen in New South Wales.
It can happen again at Lismore in Victoria tonight.
As part of my corporate governance 39 divisions investigation into this, I
had one of our investigators on site last week down there.
We attended a police debriefing, and in 45 minutes on site, 15
semitrailers drove through the stop signs at this level crossing which just
recently in the last two weeks had been reopened.
Mr GIBSON MP (CHAIRMAN): That is incredible.
Can you say again how many carriages were involved in that?
Mr EDWARDS: What you are seeing in that slide is 46 wagons completely
destroyed and that represented about two-thirds of the trains length in
total.
Mr MAGUIRE MP (STAYSAFE): Would there be a suggestion of the driver
being asleep?
Mr EDWARDS: No. I might add that this investigation is subject to an
Australian Transport Safety Bureau independent investigation.
That report is due out today in draft for the consideration of the
interested parties.
At this stage, no.
Fog was a little bit of an issue but nonetheless it would go to the
question of accepting normal practice in the sense of not being prepared
to stop.
Mr MAGUIRE MP (STAYSAFE): Was that crossing protected by boom
gates and flashing lights?
Mr EDWARDS: No. It is passively protected by give way signs.
We have lobbied the Victorian Government to not reopen that level
crossing.
It has reopened and it has reopened with stop signs now, not give way
signs. It is passively protected.
This is in a configuration locally. In that photograph, if you look at the
road in the bottom of the picture, can you imagine a main regional road
coming to a point several hundred metres before the main interstate
corridor andsplitting into two and having two level crossings within 300
metres of each other?
Mr GIBSON MP (CHAIRMAN): It is ridiculous. Mr MAGUIRE MP
(STAYSAFE): In Victoria, I can.
Mr EDWARDS: True.
The bottom one is protected by lights and bells. The one that the collision
occurred at was passively protected with give way signs only.
We have lobbied the Government and said, "Look, wouldn it be sensible
not to reopen the crossing in question and divert traffic on the other
one?"
Unfortunately, we have not had any success.
The Hon. Rick COLLESS MLC (STAYSAFE): What time of the day did it
happen?
Mr EDWARDS: At 0722 on the morning of 28 April 2006.
The Hon. Robert BROWN MLC (STAYSAFE): It is incredible.
Mr BARTLETT MP (STAYSAFE): Did your drivers survive?
Mr EDWARDS: Yes. Both our drivers were shaken and traumatised by the
event.
Our investigations indicated that basically between potential death and
serious injury of our two drivers, there was a difference of 1.5 seconds in
terms of—
Mr BARTLETT MP (STAYSAFE): Hitting?
Mr EDWARDS: —In terms of who got there first,
unfortunately.
WHY DIDNT THE GOVERNMENT FIX THIS PROBLEM?
IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN IN LISMORE TONIGHT
These are haunting words. Why would they risk it? IS IT EGOS?
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SEMI TRAILER DRIVERS WHO DROVE THROUGH
THE NEW STOP SIGN?
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