Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1921-09-28
DEADLY GRADE
CROSSING NOW
ROADS MENACE
ny AssocIsited Pressl

Boston, sept. Zi-AutomoDlle &C
cidents at grade crossings is the mos
important of all accident questions
that confront the railroads of the
cou~.:.- at the present time, c. W
Ga! ,r2y, president of the Bal
timore and Ohio Railroad told the
Steam Railroad section of the Tenth
annual congress of the National Safe
ty Council here today.
at is now necessary for engineers
to consider all construction from the
standpoint of safe operation" Mr.
Galloway said. even before the hu.
man element enters a plant, science
has done its part to make condi-
tions safe and sanitary. This came
about, primarily, because of economic
necessity.
with each recurring year the in
crease in the number of automobiles
and the growing carelessness of the
drivers make it very important that
we devote some extraordinary effort
to lessen accidents at grade cross
ings. We are confronted with the
fact that there are ten million motor
vehicles now in use in the United
States.
1T was with alarm that l noticed
the reports of grade crossing acct
dents showing increases month by
month in 1919, and l determined to
apply a remedy. l felt that if the
drivers of cars could be reached in
timately they would heed warnings.
We started the campaign by placing
observers at a few crossings where
travel was heavy. When the obser-
yer noticed the driver of an automo-
bile approach the crossing and dash
over it without taking any precau.
tionary measures to assure himself
that there was no train coming, the
license number of the machine was
placed on the card. These cards
wese forwarded to automobile COM
missioness according to the state
which issued the licenses. The COM
missioness forwarded the cards to
the owners of the machines.
"These cards, after reciting the
facts of the observation, warned the
drivers or owners of automobiles,
that their lives and property had
been risked unnecessarily, and that
repetition might bring disaster.
In the great majority of cases, the
recipient of the card realized that he
had been careless and a great many
even wrote their appreciation of our
efforts to save them from injury.
There was a gradually declining per-
centage of failures to take precau-
tions.
"When we inaugurated the obser-
walton plan, we foond that 81 percent
of automobiles failed to take proper
precautions when crossing our tracks
In the three months of November,
December, 1919, January 1920, we
mGIa 1888 observations and there
WIS total of asa failures to take
safe precautions, or 25 percent.
During the year of 1920, we eX-
tended our observations. In the II
months of that year there were 49,
Sos servations with 1926 failures,
or 16 percent.
" 1921, our observers became
even lore active and in the first six
months of this year, there were 24S,-
1888 observations made, and the fail
ures reached only SITS or 312 per
cent.
"Tke results of our observation
tests caused US to have printed more
than 100000 warning leaflets,
showing on one side boy warning
an automobiles to stop before he
crossed track. On the reverse side
is a photograph of machine reduc-
ed to splinters when struck by train
at the crossing. We arranged to
send out the leaflets in mail that
would reach the autoist. 1t was
found that every business house ap-
pealed to gladly consented to coop
crate in the campaign. The automo-
bile commissioners of the different
states also coOperated.
'There was one other means to
reach the owner and driver of the
zutomibile. That was through news
paper publicity. One story telling
Of the dangers careless automibilists
expose themselves to was sent out