Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1921-01-30 | Page 20 | Auto Crossings Cause Accidents

"AUTO CROSSINGS CAUSE ACCIDENTS Grade Crossings Given asj Reason for Enormous List of Casualties f th ;06 Americans killed In j crade crossing accidents in the calen-' dar years of 1917, 1 H 1 R and 191ft. 70 J per cent woro motorist, explains un edllori.il In the current Issue of Motor Life. There Is no disputing the figures, for they were compiled by the interstate inter-state commerce commission and spread broadcast by the American Automobile association In an effort I to arouse car owners to the gravity j of tho situation, for in estlgation hOWS that many of the accidents were 1 brought, about by plain carelessness I or foolhardlness 011 the part of the) drivers themselves. And. what to worse, Mils eareh -::e,s N increasing apparently, for in the first six months ' of 1920 there were 130" motorists ' killed at grade crossings as against ) 1232 in all of 1919. Ghastly figures, are they nof And don't they make you, .Mr. Car Uwner, stop, look and listen and ask yourself your-self if you are duly cautious when you cross railroad tracks? Really, It is up to you to do jour part in stopping this slaughter by playing safe. Keports ehow that the KTcat majority of these accidents oc- or at unprotected crossings over j double track railroads, where one train may prevent motorists from ob- I '-tvinK the approach of another train. or where railroad tracks are obscuret by embankments, buildings, trees or' shrubbery Of course, the only way such accidents acci-dents can be prevented Is to eliminate elim-inate all giade '.Tossing, but that is .11 Impossibility. Already the I'enn- q Ivanfa railroad has spent f co.ooo,-000 co.ooo,-000 In grade crossing elimination a mere drop In the bucket, for it would I cost 1600,000.000 to wipe out the re-malnins; re-malnins; 13.000 crossings on this one! railroad alone. So the onus of the whole affair rests i.ii the shoulders of the motorist motor-ist himself. If he will eliminate chance" from his vocabulary it wtu solve the problem, for If motorist used common sense at grade crossings cross-ings this appalling list of fatalities would be reduced to a minimum. After all. a minute saved by taking a chan.e at a railroad crosin does not pay Interest on the savin. OO In 1307. only a cbansis and a body wer- id by motor manufacturers.' There were 148 au'omobile m us I 111 France In 181 . r , ..,