A man still undergoing rehabilitation after being struck by a train more than two years ago at North Williamstown is backing a petition for safety barriers at the pedestrian crossing.
David Jones said the crossing should have been fixed after two children were killed there 20 years ago.
When Mr Jones watches film footage of him being struck and dragged under the train on September 28, 2011, he has no idea how he survived.
The then 28-year-old was trapped under a carriage for almost an hour and remained in a coma for a month, emerging with irreversible brain damage.
At the time, Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said Mr Jones should not have been wearing headphones. Mr Jones simply replies: “I wasn’t”.
He says the crossing, located near three schools, should have been made safe decades ago. “It would have been nice if it was fixed after there was a couple of kids run over and killed there.” But he says that as long as there’s no law compelling the government to secure crossings, they probably won’t be.
“With legislation, there’s actually a rule that says railways don’t actually have to provide any fencing. So anybody who gets hit by a train, it’s their fault by law.
“I think it’s about 150 people a year, on average, who get hit by a train.” He said if the laws were changed and the government was obliged to install safety barriers it would cost a fortune. “So they just leave it how it is.”
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan, who is distributing a petition to 3000 households, said the community had waited too long and the crossing had to be urgently fixed before anyone else was hurt or killed.
“I’ve raised this matter on countless occasions inside and out of Parliament and now I’m appealing to the community to get behind the call to install automated gates at the crossing.”
Mr Mulder’s office did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.
