Reporter Kerrie Ritchie and victim of a previous train violence assault Paul Taylor had to leave their Frankston train due to the fear invoked by alcohol fuelled, fellow patrons.
Not all violence on our trains is alcohol related, but the statistics are compelling:
70% of all assaults in Australia have alcohol at their core.
The subject of this story was previously a victim of Frankston Line Train Rock Battering Incident described in the Herald Sun here:
Train Assault Victim Tim Redmond injured 4th June 2010
In the ABC story, Paul tells the story of the terror he and his young son experienced.
They were part of a football crowd returning home. AFL football events are often Binge Drinking Events…
Some good can come out of this story if the wider ABC starts listening to real people like Paul with these real experiences.
Fight them off with Opera
Quote of the year for me comes from Paul Taylor who said of the violence on trains:
The problem is we tippy-toe around the problem. We play music to scare them off, like you know, ban smoking on the streets of Frankston to move them on. You know we’re just too scared these days to come out and say ‘that’s not tolerated. Stop’. We don’t want do that, we don’t want to confront them, we’d rather fight them off with opera.
Someone please get the word to Paul and Kerrie Ritchie and crew.
A Pedestrian 08 law and program of enforcement would have eliminated every incident he and Kerrie Ritchie and crew filmed for this excellent segment.
Multiple attempts have been made to contact the ABC.
With the exception of ABC South Australia, we haven’t been able to elicit any interest.
