KEY POINTS:
Six adult children lost their 56-year-old mother when she tried in vain to get to her feet as a train rounded the corner on its way into Huntly.
But Glenys Ngareta Cribb was too drunk.
As the train straightened out of the gradual bend and its headlights shone
down the tracks, driver Noel Wilcock suddenly became aware of someone in his path.
He desperately sounded the horn and saw Mrs Cribb "start to stand up very slowly".
The Huntly coroner's court yesterday heard that on the night of May 3, Mrs Cribb attempted to escape the impact. But she staggered and seconds later she was hit by the side of the lead engine. She was killed instantly, suffering massive head injuries.
"It's a lesson," her son Billy Cribb said outside the court yesterday. "As kids we crossed that area all the time. But where she crossed is not a legal crossing. For me, I don't blame Toll Rail at all."
During the hearing, Mr Cribb stood to apologise for the emotional trauma caused to the train driver, and thanked the Police, Victim Support, and the local funeral director for the help and support they had given his family.
The court heard that on May 3, Mrs Cribb had travelled by bus from Taumarunui to her parent's home in Huntly.
According to evidence given to Police Constable Nicola Carrick, by the time Mrs Cribb boarded the bus she was "inebriated", a state that was not unusual for her.
A toxicology and pathologist's report showed she had a blood-alcohol reading of 290, and this was compared to the legal drink-driving limit of 80.
Sister-in-law Anne Pinnell spoke of a lifetime of domestic violence that she believed had over the "past five years" culminated in an alcohol problem.
But Mrs Cribb had been a "good manager and an excellent gardener and always tried her best for her family". She questioned what "New Zealand statistic" her sister-in-law would come under - citing fatal railway accidents, alcohol-related deaths, and the "statistic I think she should come under," domestic violence.
Coroner Bob McDermott allowed Ontrack spokesman Rex Polglase to speak.
Mr Polglase said he wanted to reiterate Toll Rail's concern about people wandering on to tracks. Railways were not public property, and it was illegal to be on tracks that were not designated official crossings, he said.
The message was especially pertinent because it coincided with "rail safe week".
Two double fatalities at rail crossings in the past month have highlighted increasing concern about driver behaviour at level crossings, but statistics show a high number of pedestrians and cyclists are also killed or injured in collisions with trains.
A couple died and their 5-year-old daughter was left an orphan last weekend when their car collided with a freight train at a level crossing at Ohingaiti, near Hunterville, in Manawatu.
In mid-June, a brother and sister were killed when a train slammed into their car on a crossing near Maketu, in western Bay of Plenty.
Witnesses reported that warning bells rang and the train driver frantically sounded his horn before he hit the car.
The number of collisions and near-misses on crossings has spiked recently after an encouraging period of decline, say key players in the rail industry.
There were only 17 recorded collisions between trains and road vehicles during 2006 - a 40-year low.
Rail Safety Week is being launched tonight at Parliament by Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven.
It kicks off on Monday, with events promoting rail safety taking place across Australia and in New Zealand.
A series of hard-hitting television ads will screen on all major channels to drive home the message that ignoring the basic rules around the rail network can lead to tragedy.
Toll, Ontrack, Land Transport New Zealand, Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Chris Cairns Foundation have supported these advertisements.
Cairns lost his sister after a truck went through a crossing and hit the train she was travelling on.
