OCR Text |
Show RAILWAY ACCIDENT REMEDY. From American Medicine. TVe have before stated our belief that not only are accidents at sea and on railways caused by temporary working overtime, by overfatigue, illness, carelessness, care-lessness, etc., but that these things are also due to old age. "He was our oldest and most experienced man," Is often given as an excuse, when in fact that is precisely the fault. Age and long bearing of responsibility blunts the senses and the mental alertness which rt-ally prevents accidents. All pilots, captains, engineers, etc., should be pensioned pen-sioned or transferred to other positions at a certain age. beyond which it Is unsafe un-safe to trust them with the hazardous responsibilities. It has long been recognized recog-nized that two pilots must be on duty In the wheelhouses of ferryboats, etc.. and why should not two engineers be on duty on every passenger locomotive? The old style of engine permitted the fireman to act as a second to the engineer. engi-neer. The new machines forbid this. Let a third man be added. Two train dispatchers should be in charge of each principal office, and overtime work should be prohibited by law in trainmen. train-men. Automatic couplers and power brakes have been made compulsory bylaw by-law and have served to lessen somewhat some-what the number of casualties, but there are many other ways that a nn-tlon nn-tlon careful Instead o' reckless of the lives of Its people should demand which would stop the hideous malmings and deaths at present unnecessarily permitted. |