The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-04-18
RAILROADS PLAN
NO-ACCIDENT MONTH

B. F. Bush, Regional Director of the
Southwestern Region, has set aside
the month of May as "No-Accident
Month" on the railroads in this re.
gion. Through the efforts of the
Safety Section of the United States
Railroad Administration no-accident
campaigns have been conducted with
splendid results in a number of re-
gions throughput the United States
The railroad man who takes chances
Of injuring himself or others now is
exceedingly unpopular with his fell
low workmen, who are striving to
break all records by making their
particular railroad safe, not only dur
ing the no-accident month but all the
time.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad,
through it's officers and employees
are making strenuous preparations
for making that road the safest in
the country, as well as to lead the
other lines in the Southwestern Re-
gion in accident prevention. Safety
committees, composed of division of
ficers, trainmen, enginemen, section
men, shop men and others represent
ing every departmet of the service
are touring every mile of the road
calling attention of all employees to
the necessity of using care in the per-
Torrance of their duties. They are
also inviting the schools urging the
children to be careful and not play
around railroad tracks and cars where
their lives are in danger.
When we consider the fact that l.
TIT persons were killed and 1856 in
jured in highway crossing accidents
during the year 1917 in the J United
States it would appear that Safety Is
a question to be considered by the
general public as well as the railroad
employees. With constantly in
creasing number Of automobiles using
railroad crossings daily the death
loss has become appalling and the
government is appealing to automo-
bile drivers to exercise care, to stop,
look and listen at all railroad cross
ings. Most of these accidents can be
prevented by the exercise of care.
Safety First is slogan that the pub
lie can adopt with profit as well as the
railroads.
Parents and school authorities are
also being urged to assist in the ed
ucation of children along Safety First
lines. 1917, II children under IA
years We're killed and 70 injured play
ing around railroad tracks, 81 children
between IA and 81 were killed, and 80
injured. 991 adults were killed and
610 injured walking on railroad tracks
during the same year, not including
the 189 tramps killed and AZ injured
during the same period Cards have
recently been placed in all the schools
in the nine states through which the
Missouri Pacific operates with the
following advice to children:
Don't walk on railroad tracks or
bridges.
Don't play around railroad stations
or cars.
Don't hop on or off cars or engines.
Don't crawl under or between cars.
Don't cross track without looking
to see if train is coming.
Don't throw at glass insulators on
telegraph poles.
According to government reports,
there have been S6,733 trespassers
killed and 94,646 injured on the rail-
roads of the United States during the
past twenty years, which have been
classified as follows: Young people
under 10 years of age, residing in vi
cinity of accident, many of them I'M
der 10 years of age, $4,000; tramps,
1926; citizens of locality in which
accident occurred, mostly wage earn
ers, 120,103.
With these figures in mind, the rail-
road employees are asking the coop
Grafton of the general public, espec-
tally parents, school authorities and
automobilists, to assist in educating
people to the Importance of using
care about railroad tracks and trains,
SO that this terrible drain upon the
nations economic and social resourc-
es can be stopped. There is nothing
so precious as human life and to sac
rifice it needlessly is nothing short of
criminal