Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-06

Nm of street railway
travel in an original manner. Among
other things, he said:
washington has had a good record In
the past in the way of street railway fatal
tiles, but Of late accidents have apparently
increased. With the completion of the
New York avenue line and the new equip
ment on the 9th and F street lines, these
accidents are bound to multiply. and as
other roads adopt rapid transit we must
| look forward to frequent mishaps. With
| the introduction. of rapid transit the la
| bility to accident is necessarily increased,
| and they are likely to occur oftener and be
more serious than under the old system,
no matter how careful the street railway
companies are This is, Of course, not an
1t furnishes the strongest reason for vigil
| ance and the adoption of every precaution
that tends to prevent accidents.
Two Parties to Accidents.
But in order to secure the utmost i'm
munity from accidents, the public must
recognize that there are always two par
ties to an accident-the car which infiicts
the injury and the victim who Is injured,
and that no matter how careful those may
be who have charge Of the car, they are
very nearly powerless If the person hurt is
reckless and neglects the commonest pre-
cautions against an accident.
I'm other words, the responsibility Is a
double one. The railway company Is bound
to do all in it's power to prevent injury to
citizen, and the latter Is morally bound
to second the efforts of the company by
not rushing heedlessly into positions which
make accidents almost a certainty.
1T Is a situation that has come upon the
people suddenly, and for which they are
not fully prepared. Rapid transit Is ne
cessity and is here to stay, and 1t is, there
fore. necessary for the people to prepare
for the new order of things, and to do this
there must be certain amount OF educa-
ton. The victims of rapid transit are
principally children. or grown-up persons
who are thoughtless and as reckless as
children. There is not much hope for the
latter until bitter experience has made
them more careful; but the children can
be readily taught to exercise common pru-
dence. and thus avoid the kind of accidents
which are caused mainly by negligence or
recklessness.
Teaching School Children to BE eau
tiOus-
at would be a simple and useful lesson,
which the teachers in the primary and
grammar schools of the city could instil
at the end of each days session, by warn
ing their pupils, in going home from school.
| to keep to the sidewalks and in crossing
| the street. over which railway is laid, to
| look up and down the street for the ap-
proach of a car before crossing 1t. This
| brief lesson given every day would soon
| create habit of caIefulness, which would
| make accidents almost impossible, so far
as the children are concerned.
''The same lesson should be constantly
| taught at home by the parents of the chill
| dren, and when they see their children
| rushing across the streets in front of cars,
| as they sometimes do in spirit of bravado,
or, at ether times because of ignorance or
| reckeSsness, they should discipline them
| as the most certain mears of averting Sc
| rious misfortunes from their offspring and
| terrible heartaches from themselves, which
| no subsequent care can wipe out. These
| daily lessons at school and at home would
| educate the children and accommodate
them to the new order OF things, and
| grown up children would soon learn by ex-
| ample not to expose themselves needless
| ly to the dangers of rapid transit.
1.-The companies will naturally take pre-
cautions to avoid accidents because of the
| heavy liabilities they ircur through care
! lessness, which the courts are always pre-
pared to enforce, and the public should
second them in their efforts. With proper
| care on the part of both accidents ought
| to be well nigh impossible.
Difficulties of City Transit.
Those locomotive engineers, about whom
you have written so frequently, think they
| are the only men with nerve who ride on
rails. You have heard them talking about
| how weak they felt after their machine
had just missed knocking some clumsy
| farmer over the telegraph wires, and how
| they sweat a cold sweat when a baby tod
| died in front Of their engine? And OF
| course you have noticed their trick of lay
| ing off because they have lost their nerve
| through running fast and cannot make
| over ten miles an hour until they get their
| nerve back again? If those engineers would
| take the run up 1th street, out New York
avenue, or down Pennsylvania avenue
| III ttro,n thn "a
| departments closing for the day, they
| would be wet through all the time and
| wouldn't have enough nerve left to saS'
| the messenger boy, who will try to mount
the front step of the grip or motor car
| while looking in another direction.
| There are more children to the acre up
on It'll street than anywhere else In the
city, and every one of them plays in the
| street between the car tracks. We have
| close shaves every block. Just like that
Did you see that man then? He had
| plenty of time to wait, but he couldn't
| wait and we graZed him. CThis incident
| had brought the reporter up out of his seat
| with a shout) 1t only takes three seconds
| for US to pass a point, but those seconds
funny part of it is that after people rush
| across the track in front of our cars they
| will generally stand on the other side and
watch us go by.
| Collisions With Teams.
1--WE do not run sixty miles an hour, but
you can kill man just as quick at twelve
miles an hour and 1t shakes you up just
as much: Providence looks after babies
| and drunken men, and believe we have a
special Providence with u.s. Many people
believe we have no feelings, but have seen
| men run their grip cars into the big sheds
at the head of Pennsylvania avenue and at
| the foot of TIN street, and then sit down
| weak as cat and white a sheet. Their
nerves had given out and that was all that
| was the matter with them.
| ''Dlscharging gripmen, motormen and con-
| ductors for collisions with teams and Other
| distractions on the track, or for any acct.
dent to their cars, is the very worst policy
for the street railway companies to pursue
for none of US would know how to avoid ac
cidents if we didn't have experience with
| them.
After every considerable accident there
| Is careful inquiry to fix the blame where Il
| belongs, and it is always just verdict thai
fixes it. The conductor, upon the occur
renee of a collision or anything in which
anybody is hurt or property badly damaged
takes down the names and addresses Of
several passengers who have seen 1t all
| 1ic;n Tod AVID fall ~.