THE family of a woman who died when a passenger train collided with her car at a railway crossing at Baan Baa near Narrabri two years ago yesterday denied claims at an inquest she may have taken her own life.
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Phyliss Jeffries was killed instantly when the Moree-bound CountryLink Xplorer train from Sydney slammed into her Toyota Avalon sedan and derailed shortly after 5.30pm on Tuesday, May 5, 2004.
Twenty passengers aboard the train were injured when it left the tracks after hitting the vehicle, the engine carriage coming to rest on its side. A full-scale emergency operation unfolded involving police, the NSW Fire Brigade, ambulance and State Emergency Service personnel.
The family of Mrs Jeffries, including ex-husband Robert, son Rodney, daughter Tania and her sister denied the 53-year-old would have taken her own life at an inquest into her death and the derailment held at Narrabri Local Court yesterday.
The inquest heard evidence from an independent expert suggesting Mrs Jefferies possibly drove her vehicle onto the tracks deliberately.
Greg Tanti played the inquest a DVD showing how a vehicle's electronic control unit (ECU) could record whether Mrs Jeffries applied the brakes, then took her foot off before impact with the train.
He said the DVD showed an experiment he conducted using a police Holden VC Commodore highway patrol vehicle, detailing the accuracy of the ECU.
The DVD showed the vehicle accelerating to a speed of 74km/h over a 281m distance before coming to a halt. A diagnostic connector was fitted to a port near the brake pedal to recover information and data once the control unit was disconnected.
He said the data was then downloaded and the information transferred to a computer to identify the speed, distance and any faults recorded.
However, the solicitor for Mrs Jeffries' family, Laurence Moss, disputed the independent expert's experiment, suggesting a scenario where Mrs Jeffries simply could have lent over the passenger's side of the vehicle slowly releasing the pedal and causing the vehicle to pull away slowly towards the track.
Mr Tanti said it was possible, but doubtful, and added the only conclusive evidence was that the vehicle travelled forward after the brakes were last applied.
Four witnesses gave evidence at the inquest including a leading rail expert, a Toyota service manager and two people who spoke with Mrs Jeffries the day of the crash. Shirley Allaway told the inquest she was the last person to see Mrs Jeffries after being dropped off at her Baan Baa home after arriving back from Tamworth.
"I don't know what this inquest is about," she said.
"She was a happy go lucky woman."
But, according to documents tendered to the court Mrs Jeffries had been treated by her doctor for depression over a 29-year period.
Magistrate Mal MacPherson said due to extra witness statements being tendered at the last minute he was going to reserve his decision on the findings until September.
No mention was made during the inquest about future safety improvements, including flashing lights for the Baan Baa level crossing or others throughout the north-west.
There has been no upgrading to the crossing since the collision, which resulted in the rail line being closed from May 2004 to early 2005 and the train engine being decommissioned for repairs.
