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Show 1 Look Out For Cars ! How Fast They Come i ') Many accident occurs through lack I ; j of judgment regarding the speed of ap- Bkgj t I proaching railroad trains at road cross- " j , M Ings. Many drivers take a chance of - ) fj getting over a crossing before a train : , VJf reaches it and are caught under the j c- great iron wheels because they do not VlJt4 realize just how fast the train moves. I j ', It is said that, ordinarily, a train a half . W.i mile away will pass a given point in -,M about 36 seconds.-. .only .a little, more , j -, than a half a minute, but Tiow many ' ; . auto drivers know that? Respecting J the speed of trains, a railroad man of 1 the Southern Pacific has given the ,1 ollowlng interesting data: A passenger train approaching at ; Tull speed and still a quarter of a mile away, will cover the remaining dis-. dis-. tance in 18 seconds. If half a mile away it will flash past in 36 seconds. "Motorists should think in terms of time as well as distance. It requires ! ' la wait of only a fraction of a minute to permit the train to .pass; on the oth-'er oth-'er hand 18 seconds allows too small a margin to escape an accident if in shifting gears, tho engine stops or anything any-thing goes wrong," he says. "Forty-six people were killed, 173 were injured and 152 automobiles were damaged or destroyed at grade crossings during the calendar year of 1919. Of these 73 stalled on the crossing cross-ing and were struck by trains, 263 attempted at-tempted to cross almost immediately ii front of an approaching train; 137, or more than 25 per cent of the total, ran into trains, instead of trains into them; nine skidded into cars or trains in attempting to avoid a collision after af-ter realizing the danger; 21 ran Into and broke down crossing gates lowered low-ered to protect them from passing trains; five ran down and injured flagmen flag-men in warning position; 14 were due to miscellaneous causes." Inexperience of drivers rather than deliberate recklessness is tho principal cause of such.. accidents In his cstiima-tlon. cstiima-tlon. - -' |