Evening star., 1921-12-11
FATAL
!. TO 1850 IN YEAR
Triple Number of Persons In.
iured in Same Period at
R. R. Crossings.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BALTIMORE, December 10.-More
than $500 persons were killed and
nearly three times that number were
seriously injured as a result of acci-
dents at railway. crossings during the
past year, according to a statement
prepared by C. w. Galloway, vice
president, in charge of operation and
maintenance Of the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad, as 4 part of the rail-
| roads campaign or the promotion OF
safety.
Most of these accidents involved
motorists, who. failed to observe the
ordinary precautions when approach
ing grade crossings and could easily
! of such simple precautions as slow
ing down to a moderate speed, look
ing and listening before crossing the
tracks,
Company Takes Notes.
Realizing that the number of auto
mobiles is steadily increasing, the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad has beer
servers at crossings, who take the
number of all cars crossing the
tracks at an excessive rate of speed.
to mail to the owners of such auto
mobiles cards calling attention to the
fact that cars carelessly handled ex-
danger.
According to Mr.. Galloway's state
ment, this system Of observations and
warnings has proved of considerable
worth in 1essening the number of
careless crossings. many owners of
cars having written to him to thank
| him for calling the matter to their
attention.
observations TabuIated.
A tabulation of the observations
made during the last nine months is
| as follows:
Number of cars observed crossing
the tracks. 34O,025.
Number failing to observe usual
| precautions. 16.057.
Percentage of failure to observe,
4 per cent.
Mr.. Galloway has tabulated 1873
| consecutive accidents that occurred
| In this vicinity recently, with the re-
that 1t Is when least excusable that
crossing accidents occur. A large
majority of persons. if asked on what
Day or the week they would expect
most accidents to occur, would
answer:
Sunday. because the roads are fur
or automobiles and drivers that do NOT
appear on other days"
But the tables show that of the 1873
accidents. ~ occurred Wednesday, 25
.uoHudS' ~ SdtuTCdy, IL Friday, IL
Thursday. while Tuesday and Sunday
| were tied for last place. with IS acci-
dents each.
Another surprising fact which the
check brought out was that nearly
all the accidents happened in clear
| weather; 122 occurring In clear wealth
er. Z in cloudy, z in rain and only l
each in fog and in snowstorms.
Other Facts Disclosed.
The tabulation of the accidents also
included the facts bearing on the vi
sion the drivers had of approaching
trains, whether there were buildings,
trees. curves. embankments or other
things that would prevent an unob-
structed view. This tabulation showed
that the accidents where the vision
was clear numbered 113: where the
vision was obstrsucted. 25.
In concluding his statement, design
ed to prevent automobile accidents at
grade crossings, Mr.. Galloway brought
out the fact that, before becoming a
passenger engineer a man must serve
on an average of II years as a part
of locomotives crew. while at the
same time an automobile. capable of
travelling as fast as passenger train.
Is intrusted to the care of an operator
after a few hours of instruction and
demonstration.