00:01Lara Jensen's brother Christian and his two friends were killed in a wheat belt level
00:06crossing crash in July 2000. Despite her unrelenting advocacy ever since, she says nothing has changed.
00:13We can't bring our loved ones back, but we can honour their lives by a legacy of safety
00:19improvements that should have been introduced decades ago. Ms Jensen, the driving force behind
00:24legislation put forward by Nationals leader Shane Love to improve rail safety. The bill
00:29requiring regional trains to have flashing beacons, side lighting and more reflectors.
00:34This is not a party political thing, this is a community driven piece of legislation and
00:39what we want at the end of the day is a safer rail and road system in Western Australia.
00:44The changes aiming to improve the safety of passive rail crossings that don't have boom
00:49gates or lights. The wheat belt and the regional areas where these unmanned rail crossings with
00:57no lights, no boom gates, no bells, where they are, that's our workplace. As farmers,
01:02that's where we go to work every day.
01:04And we believe this is a community safety issue that has the potential to save lives. We fully
01:09back this bill.
01:10The Transport Workers Union is supportive of lighting on rail and illuminating train carriages
01:16for the safety of our members.
01:18WA's rail, tram and bus union wasn't there. It doesn't support the idea.
01:23When you've got all these different lights, all these different reflections, all this different
01:29glare occurring from all these lights, how does that cumulatively affect a train driver's
01:34visibility?
01:35I outlined to the leader of the National Party, happy to work with you on this, but we want
01:40to make sure that the outcome works for the whole community, including the train drivers.
01:47The bill is set to be debated in Parliament next month when it returns from the winter break.
01:53In the meantime, the Nationals say conversations with government about the proposed changes will
01:59continue.
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