The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-01-11
Travel and Human FaIlibility.

The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion takes an exceptionally. strong
ground as regards the safety of pas
sengers on our railroads. Its annual
report admits that the majority of &c
cidents are due to the employees, but
declines land quite properly sol to
place the chief blame and responsibility
upon them, when it says:
Sixty-three per cent of all accidents
were due to errors and misunderstood
ings on the part of employees. The
most perplexing and disquieting fea-
ture in the problem OF accident pre-
vention is the large proportion OF train
accidents caused by dereliction of duty
by the employees involved. Higher
speed, heavier trains, and greater
density of traffic greatly have increased
the duties and responsibilities OF
train service employees and multiplied
the chances of error on their part.
That means the commission is con-
WINGED that human fallibility has to be
reckoned with. To prevent collisions
measures must be taken to reduce the
chances of human error to minimum
and to neutralize the effort of such
error whenever it occurs. 1t is not
sufficient to caution engineers in the
printed rules against excessive speed
all that is self-understood-if on the
other hand they are subject to marks
of demerit for being only a single
minute even behind time. 1t is in
sufficient to instruct engineers to take
crossings at moderate speed when they
are under strong pressure to run al
very high speed.
The first duty OF any railroad COM
pany, adds the report, is to use every
mechanical improvement and device
known that will promote safety. No
doubt that some railroad companies are
derelict and have no right to blame
their employees. OF S,2I5 derailments,
1877 were caused by road defects, and
.3yS47 by defective equipment The
railroad companies and the railmakers
for years have been blaming each other
for the increase in rail breakages The
commission holds that the weight of
evidence seems to be against the rail-
roads. though there is also fault with
the rolling mills The weight and
speed of trains have Increased greatly
The railroads demand a very hard rail
TO withstand the present-day severe
usage But the very hard rail is brit
tie, and passengers in the meantime
are being killed. 1t were high time
that the two parties should reach a set
Element and give sound rails to the
travelling public The Interstate Com
mission has this 10 add:
OF thirty-one derailments investigat-
ed fourteen were due directly or indi-
rectly to bad tracks In nine of the
fourteen cases no adequate speed re-
strictions were in force. and in three
of these cases the track was in such
condition that derailment was likely
even to occur at low speed. In one
serious derailment. examination of
the track in the vicinity, of the acct
dent disclosed oo6 rotten ties within
147 rail lengths. Under many of the
rails there were as high as eleven bad
ties each, while under two of the rails
there were twelve ties so badly de-
cayed and broken up as to be totally
unfit for service.
The company that owns this road
cannot reply that the Interstate Com
mission does not allow it to earn
enough TO keep its tracks in order.
Facts do not justify such an answer.
Earnings may not have been in some
cases all that could be desired, but
they have been increasing steadily for
several years.