Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-25
THERE IS A WAY TO STOP
THE CROSSING TRAGEDIES
A Whole New System Of Safety Devices
Should Replace the Flrrsy Con.
traptIons Now In Use

sequence. But IL the lessons OF past expert
cnce count for anything, great many more
lives will have to be sacrificed before rail
way companies and tho civil authorities gen.
orally are moved to cooperate in an ordered
plan not only to reduce the number OF acci-
dents but to eliminate them altogether
Tragedies of this sort are preventablc
They are almost unknown in some of the
European countries. Meanwhile. tn in
crcasing frequency Of grade crossing horrors
in the United States appears shocking even
as II Is revealed in statistical records.
OF the two hundred people who were
killed at railway crossings in New Jersey
during the last fifteen years, thirty six were
sacrificed during the last nine months.
In the first six months Of the present year
there we're 2J7 accidents at grade crossings
in this state and sixty three persons were
killed outright.
This general slaughter is due. in part at
least. to the swift revolution that has oc-
CURED in methods of modern travel and to
the inability or the unwilingness OF railroads
and public officials to keep step with the
times.
The fastest train service IN the world is
maintained regularly on the South Jersey
lines which cross highways burdcned with
motor traffic Yet in many instances the
grade crossings in New Jersey and in Penn
sylvania are unguarded or merely equipped
with mechanical contrvanceS with habit
of getting out of keller.
II is cotHmon TO suppose that tn" care
lcssncss of motor drivers is chiefly rcspon-
s.blc for crossing accidents. But reports
issued by the various public service COM
missions show that pedestrians and the occu-
pants of horse drawn vehicles are more cx-
pOMd to danger than those who go about IN
automobiles During one period of six
onths in this state almost half of the
.. ade crossing victims were afoot in car
riages or in wagons. Yet motorcars made
up the bulk of the traffic at danger points.
There are more than 100 railway grade
crossings in Pennsylvania. and the devices
and appliances installed for the protection
Of life at such functions of heavy rail and
road traffic have been little improved since
the time when the public highways knew
| only horse drawn vehicles.
The roads Of the country have become ar
| tcries of traffic that IL quite as heavy as
| that which moves over the rails. Yet none
of the care and ingenuity and Inventive
| talent mich made the modern railroad pos
siblc seems to have been devoted to the
| business Of preventing collision and death
great streams of traffic meet and cross.
Warning signals of the accepted type are
| fiimsy or inadequate contraptiOns. Safety
gatcs of the American type are by no means
| as safe as they ought to be. And it is always
| TO be remembered that there is neither bell
| nor gates at most of the crossings in Penn
! sylvania and at some of the most dangerous
death traps in New Jersey.
| In European countries crossing gates
| are heavy, and once they arc closed it is
| virtually impossible for any one afoot or in
q mOtorcar to get in the path Of an on
| coming train. Moreover. every crossing that
| is in the least dangerous is guarded.
Even with the most lavish expenditure OF
money and energy, a generation would be
! required for the elimination of perilous
crossings il this state and New Jersey. In
the meantime IT is plainly the duty Of the
public service com.oissitns to insist that the
| railway companies give serious thought to
! better protective devices than those now In
| use and that they provide guards at every
! danger point to make these devices effective.
! So long as railway men and the civil au-
thorities depend on hope and red lantern
| OT two, tragedies like that which occurred
| at the Morgan street crossing in Camden
! will become more frequent and more terrible
| 1t is not too much to demand that i'm
! passable gates and a competent guard be set
! up at every point where heavily Travelled
| highway crosses busy railway line.
! Any one who goes about Philadelphia and
| the citys suburbs will know that it can be-
only matter of time until a shocking acCi
| dcut at one Of the numbcrlcss dangerous
grade crossings in this vicinity makes the
| puhliC aware Of this need.
The new Willow Grove turnpike boasts
one Of the worst death traps in this part Of
| the state. So does tho much Travelled
| Washington lane at WyncotC. There is a
crossing near Orcland that claims its victims
regularly. The Baltimore and Ohio express
trains go full tilt through Darby and cross
the main highway with nothing but himsy
gates between them and the general traffic
Of the street.
In the southwestern section Of the city
| dangerous crossings some Of them un.
| guarded are frequent,
The immediate elimination of such traps
is out Of the question. The railroad com =
panies. looking forward always to dim
future in which they hope to lift all their
lines above or below the street level have
been, unfortunately. too Cramped financially
through governmental regulation to realize
these hopes, and meantime have not i'm
proved the safety appliances.
The drain on the railway treasures due tC
accident claims must be enormous 1t Is
impossible not TO wonder why, even d
measure of economy, the railway managers
have not sought slIrrr methods than tinking
automatic bplls--which often forget to tinkI,
to reduce the number of preyentable fa
| taltics on their lines of traffic.
| when the Reading began the work Of
clcvatiug and depressing it's tracks within
the city area it was supposed by the public
and by good many railway men that grad,
crossings were dangerous only in cities
Enormous sums were spent on that job,
Since then The development Of motor rafiiC
has been such as to prove that sooner OF
later oil rail trafl in thieky populated sec.