The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1923-10-24
SIXTY CASUALTIES
At RAIL CROSSINGS
FRED M. METCALFE OF SAFETY
SECTIO NOF N. P. ROAD
ISSUES WARNING

woman met her death while driving
the family car to town on business,
the following warning issued this
week by Fred NJ. Metcalfe, superin-
tendeht of the safety section of the
Northern Pacific Railway Company,
will be of more than ordinary inter-
est:
Horsepower under the hood is not
as important as horse-sense behind
the steering wheel" is the apt COM
ment of one of our leading daily pap
ers in discussing automobile high
way accidents at railroad crossings"
says Mr.. Metcalfe.
During the four summer months
of the past three years." he continu-
ed, "the American Railway AssOcia-
ton has conducted a nationwide in
tensive educational campaign in an
effort to drive this idea into the minds
of American motorists, because this
lack of horse-sense has been very
largely responsible for most of the
collisions between automobiles and
trains.
"Since 1917 the annual increase in
registered automobiles has averaged
nearly two million of them using u
highways. If we estimate each car
is driven by two drivers we then have
the varying mentality and experience
of twenty eight million drivers to
consider when Analysing the automo-
bile accident problem. When we al
so consider that our highways and
streets are much the same as they
were before these fourteen million
high powered machines were turned
loose upon them and operated main
ly by persons who have very little
conception of the power in their con-
troll, it s amazing that the accident
record is so low.
so Summer Casualties
with this in mind the record of
casualties to motorists who passed
over the six thousand crossings of the
Northern Pacific Railway during the
past four summer months may be OF
interest. These casualties totalled
sixty and were 20% less than during
the summer of 1922, Notwithstanding
that there were not less than 1870
more automobiles in service and near
ly a 1919 increase in the railways To-
connective mileage.
Carefully prepared automobile sta
tistics show that $3.50 of all wighway
accidents at railway crossings that
have occurred were primarily caused
by lack of necessary precautions by
automobile drivers, that 80 per cent
of them had occurred In broad day
light and many Of them under ideal
weather conditions where warning
, signs were plainly visible for a .On'
> siderable distance and where drivers
had an unlimited view in all direc-
tions, also in 21% of these accidents
the automobile was driven into the
side of trains while they were NOV
ing over the crossings. No one de
MES that a railroad crossing is MOI
? a potential hazard, but 1t is not the
mere existence of the crossings thai
. makes it dangerous, it is the heed
less way in which people use it. Ou1
!, Creator has endowed US with five
n senses so that we, when normal, cal
n see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. Or
n dinarily the exercise of but n o.
these senses is required to avoid al
d accident at a railroad crossing, name
ly the n of seeing, which enables u
to make timely and intelligent obser
d vations. The old familiar slogan
"Stop, Look and Listen" is the bes
Y piece of advice ever written. 1t
IS the ounce of prevention that will sav
suffering and sorrow which inevitabl,
II must follow a serious railroad cross
If ing accident, and to use it require
r only a flash of thought, a mite o
u care, and but a moment > CilnS.
Auto Has Poor Chance
: 'The greater weight of a train, a
, compared with an automobile tn
greater force that is used to impel
. and the greater speed at which tn
: trains move, coupled with the fac
: that the train must remain o. tn
rails on that narrow strip of groun
on which they are laid, make it tn
obvious duty of the automobile drive
to avoid colliding with it. Few pei
sons, / fancy, appreciate to what e1
n tent the automobile is handicappe
q in this matter of weight and powe
h in its contest with the train. A flu
10 tonnage freight train is 1,640 time
n heavier than an ordinary loaded tou
ing car and the horsepower deve