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Show SOME NEW PRACTICAL IDEAS ON SAFEGUARDING GRADE CROSSINGS Robson'e Plan Where Roadway Is Parallel to Railway. On Left, P'an Where Road Is at Right Angles to Railway. M. P. Robson of Houston, Tex., has advanced an Idea on the safeguarding safeguard-ing of railroad crossings that Is being be-ing hailed as a very valuable suggestion sugges-tion by railroad safety men and traffic traf-fic men geneially. The two drawings Illustrate Mr. Iiobson'j plan. The upper drawing shows the proposed method where the roadway Is parallel to the railway tracks. Take the driver in the car as pictured. pic-tured. If a train is coming towurd him, he sees it while on the main highway." high-way." If a train is coming In the opposite op-posite direction, that is to his rear, gv 'iiLjsSESHsa TtnfinMi ttiniii X'tn ii imiii'iiipiininijl A Plan Adopted on Some of the New Roads in Central Texas. Ing in the same direction with him, he can't fail to see this train when he makes the acute angle turn for the railroad crossing and is headed obliquely back in the other direction. In addition, the motorist, in order to make the acute angle turn must slow down. He will be headed toward to-ward the tracks at a very low rate of speed. He will be entirely able to stop, and, under the circumstances, It is not likely that he will have any ambition to beat tho train to the crossing. Safety at Turn. In case the motorist finds himself approaching the turn at too great a speed to make the acute angle turn safely the plan calls for a short runway run-way straight ahead, where the motorist mo-torist can turn around at his leisure. The plan works In exactly the same way if the motorist is traveling in the opposite direction to the one indicated. in-dicated. The second drawing illustrates the method as applied to roads that cross tracks at a right angle. The zig-zag forces a slowing down, there being one broad turn first, then an acute one. By making the acute angle turn the motorist is given a good view of the tracks in both directions before he crosses. He la forced to a very slow speed and will have his car- under control. Always a Danger Spot. The principal thing in safeguarding grade crossings is to make the motorist motor-ist understand that every crossing is a danger spot, to impress on him, as he approaches, that be is at a place where he must take precautions. Any plan which tends to make the motorist feel that the grade crossing has been made safe is worse than no plan at all. Auto men and railway men generally gen-erally who have been approached on the subject have agreed that Mr. Rob-son's Rob-son's plan is superior to any of the others suggested und they express the hope that it will speedily be given a thorough test. While it is recognized that the plan would make railroad crossing a slow process, it is believed that motorists would not object to this if a large number of the present grade crossings are eliminated altogether. Especially it is not believed they will object to the minor delays when It Is remembered remem-bered that 1,(500 people were killed on grade crossings in the United States last year and some 12,000 Injured. This tredmendous slaughter can be avoided by the adoption of an adequate ade-quate safety system. Motorists generally gen-erally are invited to join in the perfecting per-fecting of such a system. |
