Perth Amboy evening news., 1913-07-26
GRADE CROSSING CASE
IN HANDS OF UTILITY
BOARD FOR DECISION
Counsel for Railroads and City Sum
Up at Final Hearing Yesterday and
File Briefs on Matter
HOMMANN INTERPRETS STATUTE

er mortals are falible, and not i'm
mune to making errors He cited the
death of an Italian organ grinder at
the Lehigh Valley New Brunswick
avenue crossing, as an illustration of
how the gateman may veer in his
work. He stated though the employe
was a trusted man and had been in
the service of the road for some
twenty years, at the time of the accl-
dent he was unable to cope with the
situation. The city's representative
not only laid stress on the degree of
danger from the existence of the
gates, but told the commission that
the hazard of the crossings even with
the gates was too much to impose on
the travelling public, who are not
themselves careful Of their safety.
The attorney then came to the gist
of his argument and interpreted the
new statute created by the legislature
giving authority to the commission
ers. Mr.. Hommann said according to
the statute the state body could order
elimination of any crossings which
in their Judgment they deemed
either dangerous to life or an i'm
pediment to traffic. The attorney en-
phasized the point that statute did
not say "too dangerous" but only
said dangerous. MIR. Hommann con-
sidered that indisputable evidence
had been produced to show the cross
ing, which the city asked to have
eliminated, are both dangerous and
impediments to traffic
In closing the city attorney tried
to impress the commission with the
| fact that the elimination could be
! accomplished now cheaper than in
the future, when some day, at the
present rapid increase in Perth Am
| boys population, the commission will
| feel compelled to order the crossings
| abolished. He emphasized the point
that the city had been the first to
| take advantage of the new law rela-
tive to elimination, and file their petit
ton according to same, and that as
the statute did not say that the most
! dangerous crossings of the state had
| to be eliminated first, he thought the
board should order the abolishment
Of the crossings asked for In the
petition at the presel,~ time.
Mr.. Holmes, representing the Cen
! trail railroad, disagreed with Mr..
Hommann concerning the statute,
and stated he felt sure the lawmak-
ers meant that traffic should not be
submitted to an unreasonable" de-
| lay, and that crossings should not be
| "unreasonably" dangerous to life.
"If they did not mean this then every
single crossing in the state would
come under this act, and the rail-
roads would be required to eliminate
all the crossings by the statute, with
out this commission playing any part
| In It," he said. He contended that
the very reason that grade crossing
elimination was put under the juris-
diction Of the state body showed that
they had to decide which crossings
were most unreasonably dangerous,
and which most unreasonably impede
| traffic. He called attention to the
clause in the statute giving the COM
missioners their power to have cross
ings eliminated according to their
! judgment. From this the attorney
concluded that the law was not man
datory, and was meant to give the
commissioners a wide scope, allowing
them to choose which crossings in
| the state were unreasonably danger
| Gus, and unreasonably tmpeded
| traffic.
He said that no evidence had been
submitted showing that the whole
public of Perth Amboy had been de-
| layed habitually and unreasonably at
crossings, and he stated that the
main question for the commissioners
to consider is whether the public
safety Is unreasonably imperiled by
the existence of the crossings. He
contended that every grade crossing
is more or less dangerous, and that
| censuses Of accidents at those In
| Perth Amboy did not show that they
were exceptionally so. He criticized
! the city's census, which gave the
number of people and vehicles pass
| ing over these crossings between
a. m. and p. m. He said that the
city had not classified the census by
hours, and that the railroads CEN
suses show that most of the travelling
! over the crossings was done during
hours when the number of trains
were fewest.
Relative to the fast-speed trains
that pass through Perth Amboy as
brought out in the evidence present
ed to the board, the attorney said
the city or the commission had au-
thority to regulate their speed, II
they so desired. He stated that most
Of the accidents at the crossings had
been shown to have resulted from
negligence on the part of the victim.
and that as far as the future IN
creased population of Perth Amboy
is concerned, he thought the future
would be considered then, but did
not believe that the board could
reasonably require the abolition of
the crossings as applied for In the
petition.