Evening star., 1936-10-16
Millions Spent for Safety.

In at least one respect the lavish spend
ing by the Government in the name Of
recovery in this country has been of de-
cided benefit to the public. That is in
the grants to the States for the prosecu-
ton of the work of eliminating grade
crossings. These death traps, SO shock
ingly destructive of life for many years,
ard particularly in the latter days of
motor transport, have been the tragic
scandal of the country. Recognized long
ago as evils requiring abolition, they have
been tolerated, with the result Of an ap-
palling total of fatalities. In some cases
the fault has lain with the railroads,
which have refused to yield their rights
of way and have resisted the imposition
upon them of the cost of correction. In
other cases the fault has lain with the
States and local communities, which have
pleaded lack Of funds, especially in cases
involving costly operations in the estab-
lishment Of overpasses or underpasses
for the highways. Meanwhile the sacri-
flee Of life has continued, now single
death, again wholesale slaughter, as
in the case near Rockville a couple of
years ago. One by one, altogether too
slowly to meet the requirements of public
safety, some Of these death traps have
been abolished, but by no means at the
required rate to bring about a condition
Of assured security to the users Of the
highways.
One Of the uses to which the funds Of
the Government have been put in the
course of the spending for recovery" has
been the correction of. these evils,
through grants. Altogether the sum of
$500, 1000 has been allocated to this
use. The work has been undertaken
through the Bureau of Public Roads, with
the goal Of the elimination of 2,097 grade
crossings, the reconstruction of 800 old
separations Of grade and the installation
Of safety gates, flashing signals and other
warning devices at 1,037 other crossings.
In recent report it was stated that on
the first of this month 281 grade cross
ing separation projects and 1876 high
way relocations had been completed, at
= cost Of $1s, ,203, ,462 Additional projects
under way include $50 grade crossings,
246 highway relocations and 162 recon-
structions of existing separations. Fur
thermore, projects costing more than
$27,o0oooo have been approved for con-
struction and other projects involving a
total cost of s43, $40 900 are on a program
which will be added when engineering
surveys have been completed.
AS a means Of furnishing occupation for
otherwise idle men, this work has been
productive of excellent results. Direct
employment has been furnished in recent
months to an average of 10000 men,
with indirect employment to 5000 ad-
ditional in the production and transporta-
tion Of materials and equipment. A
statement issued by the Bureau of Public
Roads notes that all the States and most
of the railroad companies have benefited
from this enterprise.
1t is impossible to compute the saw
ing In lives that these works will assure.
The present rate of the use of the roads,
with speedy vehicles constantly increas-
ing, Is such as to place in peril daily tens
OF thousands of persons. 1t matters not
that in the majority of cases of tragedy
the fault lies with the drivers of cars,
who take desperate chances; or in other
cases with the railroads, which persist in
maintaining open crossings because they
decline to acknowledge responsibility for
correction. The placing of blame does
not restore lives that are lost. Judgments
by the courts for damages have not ac-
celerated the correction of these death
traps. Even in the case of plainly proved
negligence on the part of the transporta-
ton companies for the proper mainte-
nance OF safety devices the penalties have
not caused the Fastening of correction
works. Only through wholesale ex-
penditure Of public funds has it been
possible to bring about the required
changes. And thus it Is that in this one
respect at least the use of the abundant
millions appropriated by q generous
Congress, provided through heavy taxa
tion of all the people, has been for the
general good, to the end Of correcting an
evil that has been q disgrace to the
American Nation,