What took so long?

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Morningside-Crossing-AfterWhy does it take a tragedy to occur for people to realise that actually, things are pretty crap and maybe it’s about time we change them?

I was thinking this on the 25th of February of this year when a young woman in an electric wheelchair got stuck while trying to cross the railway crossing in Morningside. The wheelchair was struck by the train with her still strapped to it, dragging her 5 metres until the train finally stopped, leaving her severely injured and her wheelchair destroyed. It also takes a tremendous amount of courage to put your life at risk in the way two passer-byers did to save the life of the victim, one of who landed a minor injury themselves.

This event naturally sent shivers down my spine and made me sick to my stomach because I’m also in an electric wheelchair and that easily could have been me.

Similar to the ‘well, what was she wearing?’ argument that gets made every time a woman is raped, people were asking ‘well, what was she doing crossing the tracks in the most dangerous way possible?’ argument. Well, she obviously just wanted to put her life at risk by crossing one of the most dangerous crossings in the city, resulting in a two-month hospital admission.

I’m kidding. Clearly, there was no other way for her to get across and had there been, she wouldn’t have had to result in crossing in the dangerous way that she attempted.

2 weeks ago KiwiRail finally claimed responsibility and offered a payout to the victim and her family after almost 3 whole months.

That brings me back to my initial question. Lobbyists had been trying to get railway crossings improved for the past 10 years with little or no result, meaning this tragedy was avoidable as it almost always is. Not only this, but in late 2010 Auckland Transport issued a draft report that identified the most urgent crossings in Auckland and they would begin investigating the matter after 16 months.

Clearly, this 16-month wait was far too long and had this incident not occurred I’m sceptical as to how efficient they would have been in following through with this investigation.

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I know these improvements are expensive but I really could not care less about that, nor do I care about who is liable or who is going to pay for these improvements or its removal.

At the end of the day it’s about the safety of all New Zealanders and the fact that it took them so long to make any constructive decisions makes me question whether their primary concern really is the safety of all New Zealanders. And by that I’m not just referring to the disabled community. I’m also talking about parents with prams, the elderly and anyone else who can’t just look both ways and dash over the railway crossing within a matter of seconds.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Agree with you Latifa. Having a disabled sister (physical and intellectually) and now father (two strokes) makes you see the world through very different eyes. Uneven footpaths are everywhere, roadworks or even home renovations churn up the footpaths without any thought for those who find it difficult to walk on uneven ground. My sister even finds those lovely cobbles that Wellington puts everywhere a bit difficult.
    Take care. I’m glad to hear the woman in Auckland didn’t die. I missed the follow up news about how she was getting on.

  2. A time will come when people will realise that what is good for disabled is good for them. The catch cry of radical disability theory – “fix the physical environment and equality will come” requires that those with the purse strings, will open them. This case proves even in economic good times – the purse strings stayed closed. I was sickened by this event – especially as Kingsland and Mt Eden stations were highlighted as a problems back in the 2005 British lions tour – and again at the rugby world cup. And nothing was done.

  3. It is shocking the neglect that is going on. If this sort of neglect happened in a medical case, financial case, etc. there would be people getting charged in court. Where are the charges of neglect causing potential death? And are there really people who make the arguments you have at the start of your article? o.O

  4. Well said, Latifa. and yes, the argument is the expense but the ‘We’ll just leave it for now” mentality is often ultimately a lot more expensive – people pay with their health and their lives. Safety and equal access should have first call on the money spent! Is that not how a society is judged?

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