Casualty adds voice to rail safety
For Marree Sylva, life changed on a trip to McDonald’s.
It was March 23 last year when her car somehow ended up on train lines in North Canterbury and it was hit by a freight train.
She remembers the screaming afterwards, the panic, the call to 111, and the realisation her cousin had been thrown clear of the car.
But she has no memory of how she arrived on the tracks at the level crossing, and that is the worst part.
‘‘It is the hardest thing, not knowing what I did wrong. It is difficult to come to terms with.’’
This week is rail safety week and Sylva was at the Wellington Railway Station sharing her story in the hope others would pay more attention around train lines.
On the day of the accident, she and her fiance and cousin decided to get McDonald’s at Tuahiwi, north of Kaiapoi.
It was a road she had driven before and she knew there was a rail crossing with stop signs.
But no memory remains of how or why she failed to see the train coming.
‘‘We were hit. There was screaming and panic. I was crying.’’
She suffered a traumatic brain injury and her cousin – who was thrown through the back window – had to go into intensive care, followed by rehabilitation that only ended in February.
Her fiance suffered a head injury and post-traumatic stress.
For rail safety week, KiwiRail and TrackSafe are taking aim at people wearing headphones near rail crossings.
According to KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy, there has been an increase in the number of incidents involving pedestrians at crossings.
‘‘A number of recent deaths have involved the use of headphones.’’
There were 15 near-misses reported between pedestrians and trains in 2010; this year there have already been 68.
Last year there recorded near-misses.
‘‘Both in New Zealand and around the world, an increase in the number of people using personal technology is causing distraction around railway tracks,’’ said KiwiRail asset and investment manager David Gordon.
‘‘There have been a number of were 94 incidents recently where headphones have been found to be the cause.’’
KiwiRail is working on a trial warning system for pedestrians with flashing LED lights installed in the footpath near crossings.
The lights are being trialled in Rangiora, Porirua and Palmerston North.