CHAPTER XI

HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS AND THEIR MITIGATION It may be true that accidents are commonly the result of disorder, but as there seems to be no panacea for disorder, accidents cannot entirely be prevented. The best thing that can be done at present is to arrange everything connected with the road so that the chance of accident will be kept as low as it is possible for imperfect humanity to keep it. Transportation accidents have always occurred and probably always will occur. In the early days of the railway such papers as _Harper’s Weekly_ ran weekly illustrated accounts of railway accidents. If it was the intention to induce the people not to patronize the train service it utterly failed. To prevent shipping accidents the Government has spent millions in lighthouses and water-front protection. Great quantities of money have been spent to make safe river transportation. Elaborate national and international codes of rules for navigation have been adopted. Laws to regulate railways have been passed. The newest form of transportation, aviation, has already been a subject for the law makers’ wisdom. Of all classes of accidents, whatever, as reported by life and accident insurance companies, that coming under the heading “Automobile” is by far the largest. The Insurance Press stated that during the year 1920 the automobile caused 12,000 fatalities and 1,500,000 non-fatal injuries. The 1921 statistics show approximately the same results.[201] Since it is quite likely that many accidents never get into the enumeration it may be assumed without fear of successful contradiction that about one car out of every seven has an accident causing injury to human beings each year. The number of accidents in which no human injury results must be fully as many more. With ten million automobiles in every conceivable state of repair, with ten million drivers with every imaginable diversity of expertness, with many millions of unexpected conditions constantly turning up it would be, indeed, very strange if no accidents occurred. Classification of and remedies for accidents can only be made in a most general manner. In some of what follows the mere calling attention to the nature of the accident will suggest the remedy; in others precautions will be mentioned. =The Driver.=--No matter how careful a driver may be there will be accidents, but the greatest number occur with drivers who may be classified as: (1) Mentally or physically unfit, (2) Ignorant, (3) Indifferent, (4) Reckless by nature. The unfitness may be caused by sickness, acute or chronic, business worry, overwork, loss of sleep, intoxication, the undevelopment of youth or the feebleness of old age. Men of ordinarily good judgment have become nervous and lost their heads in times of crises. The good driver must react quickly, his foot must press the brake pedal, his hand turn the steering wheel almost unconsciously. His mind works reflexively; the gas, the brake, the steering are operated and related to each other so perfectly that the car goes where it should without the conscious mind giving it any particular attention except in cases of emergency. With an untrained mind the car will frequently go where it should not quite as unconsciously as in the other case it goes where it should. The driver looks at a bump in the road and thinks, “I must not hit it,” but he watches it intently and almost as surely hits it. Instances are not uncommon of men who have become drowsy while driving and allowed the car to run into the ditch. Mental and physical alertness have saved many cars from serious accident. Ignorance of how to operate a car may not mean ignorance in other things. Too many persons try to operate a car without knowing anything whatsoever about it except to put on the gas, shift gears, and turn the steering wheel to the right or the left. They frequently lack decision, will power and imagination, or they go to the opposite extreme forget to be courteous and hog the whole road. The driver of a car is like the soldier going into battle, thinks the other man may be hit but not he. The driver, too often, believes himself to be immune. He knows there are bound to be accidents to some but he continues to take chances. Inexperience is as bad as any other kind of ignorance except that the tyro imagines continually that he may have an accident and is always on the watch. He usually, too, drives slowly until self confidence leads him to a quicker pace. Many an ignorant driver may, as the tyro mentioned, be absolutely careful, but not knowing how to manipulate his machine kills the engine in the most dangerous places, or otherwise brings about an accident. The indifferent or “don’t care” personage is one of the worst offenders. He passes through a string of cars without paying any attention, taking it for granted that the other fellow will do the looking out. He runs over the walk lines without giving thought to the pedestrians who have as much right there as he. It is said that women are more likely to be afflicted with indifferency than men. If this be so, no doubt the scientist could explain it on the theory that for ages women have been given first place by the men, they have seldom been called upon to look out for themselves, but have always depended upon being cared for especially in times of danger, hence now they unconsciously expect all cars, especially those with men drivers, to avoid them. The indifferent person does not look both ways before crossing a railroad track. He starts to walk across a street without noticing whether or not automobiles are coming. He pays no attention to signs and danger signals along the way. He takes dangers as nonchalantly as though driving in the lonely desert. He knows that accidents do happen and imagines that some day or other he will “get his” but thinks that day is always a long time in the future. When spoken to in regard to his careless driving he laughingly puts it off with, “Oh, I am all right. Nothing will happen to me.” But, all too frequently something does happen. The reckless by nature are not so uncommon as one might think. There is more or less recklessness in all mankind. Else why do they enjoy reading of and seeing deeds of daring? An aeronaut looping-the-loop used to draw hundreds to a fair. When that became common and ceased to produce thrills the daring air man leapt from the plane descending by parachute, or passed from one plane to another. The papers will fill their columns with accounts of a daring flight across the ocean, the people pay for and read these papers because they in a measure satisfy the natural reckless longing of mankind. Wild west stuff in the movies receives a large patronage when everyone knows that the days of uncouth and reckless cow-boyism are gone forever. Horse races and automobile races because of the elements of contest and danger cater to the same wild propensities. When two race horses come beside each other they champ their bits and throw their heads in a wild endeavor to be off. The human animal, too, when another machine tries to pass him, has the same instinctive inclination to keep it from doing so. Of course there are all degrees of recklessness and it certainly is not to be condoned on the theory that it is an inherited tendency. Might as well say that civilized man should continue the barbarous customs of head-hunting and cannibalism. The time has arrived when all such barbarian actions should absolutely cease. The slogan, “Wreckless, not Reckless,” should govern. Perhaps two-thirds of the automobile accidents can be charged either to carelessness or recklessness on the part of drivers. Can these propensities be done away with? Only by creating a sentiment in favor of careful and safe driving. DRIVE CAREFULLY should not only be posted on the wind shield of every automobile but in the mind and consciousness of every driver. =Driving and Operating.=--Mention has already been made of reckless driving. Speeding might be looked upon at times as reckless, at other times not, although it at all times is more or less dangerous, for there is always a chance that some part of the mechanism might suddenly go wrong, that another machine may come in from a side road, or that there may be an unseen bad place in the road. Reckless and fast driving together are almost sure, sooner or later, to lead to accident and perhaps loss of life. The Maryland State Road Commission has its patrolmen collect and report accident data. During the three months of May, June and July of 1921, their records show that 90 per cent of the accidents are due to speeding. It has been suggested that automobiles ought to be installed with governors which will limit the vehicle-speed to twenty-five or thirty miles per hour. This is a very doubtful expedient for very many accidents occur when vehicles are traveling at a very much less speed. Even trucks with governors that limit them to 12 or 15 miles per hour frequently have accidental collisions. Laws limiting speeds to 8, 12, or 15 miles through villages while possibly wholesome will not wholly prevent accidents. In congested cities speeds as high as 25 miles per hour are at times not only allowable but highly desirable to relieve the congestion. The driver in such instances must have his wits about him and drive with utmost care. The sudden rounding of a sharp corner has caused many a car to turn turtle; likewise suddenly turning a car from a rutted track will sometimes cause the driver to lose control and the car to go into the ditch. If there is snow, ice, loose earth or mud on the roadway or pavement, skidding, which may result in a broken wheel or more disastrously, is quite likely to take place. The remedy, of course, is to slow up before turning. Passing or attempting to pass a car on the wrong side, and driving on the wrong side of the street are sources of danger. So, also, is every infraction of road customs and rules such as driving rapidly over crossings and those portions of the street where the public have a right to walk, failure to slow down at railway crossings, not watching the car ahead for hand signals, or not giving hand signals when turning or stopping the car. How many drivers run on past a street car when it is stopped for taking on or discharging passengers. How many drivers watch the sidewalks, the store fronts, or turn around to talk to the passengers on the rear seat instead of watching the street with its many passing vehicles and pedestrians. =Horns.=--Every car is supposed to be equipped with a good horn and it should be used with caution when necessary but never when unnecessary or so often as to become a nuisance. Horns should be regulated by law in just the same manner as lights. The standard horn is one which honks, not one which whistles or screeches. The siren is almost universally the property of fire-fighting motors and many cities reserve its use to the fire departments, making it a misdemeanor for any one else to use it. Screeching and whistling horns should be relegated to the scrap pile. The honking horns are now so well recognized that every one knows what they mean, and if they are used properly and not too close to crossings will not frighten the pedestrian. If honked too close a pedestrian may become excited and rush back right in front of the car. Boys, and bicycles should not be allowed to have honking horns, they should belong exclusively to the automobile. =Stopping Cars on Grades, Streets, etc.=--The stopping of machines on grades without thoroughly braking them or blocking the wheels, or leaving them without wheels blocked on ferries may be and has been productive of accidents. September 3, 1922, the papers reported that a taxi which had been left on the brink at Niagara Falls and whose brakes failed to hold, had carried a woman passenger over the cliff to her death. Trucks, delivery wagons, ice-wagons, etc., frequently stop back of the line of parked automobiles in the street restricting the way and causing all passing vehicles to go over to the wrong side of the street thus congesting traffic and furnishing a source of danger. Deliveries should, if possible, be made at the alley or rear entrance. If that is impossible space might be reserved at each end of the block for this purpose. There must also be space reserved at the ends of blocks for the entry and discharge of street car and bus passengers. Likewise the space about a fire hydrant should be kept absolutely clear. =Backing.=--Mr. L. A. Held, adjuster for the American Railway Express Company, writing in the _Express Messenger_ of July, 1922, says: In those claims presented for damage arising out of accidents caused by our vehicles backing, settlement in most every case is necessary as there is not the slightest chance of successfully defending an action for damages resulting from such an accident. The handling of an automobile while in reverse calls for the greatest care and continual vigilance. It is not sufficient to merely look once before starting to back. On the contrary, the operator should continually watch the rear of his truck and take almost extraordinary precautions to see that no harm befalls any person or property. Where there is no one to guide him, it becomes quite difficult to avoid collisions, especially in congested thoroughfares, for truth to tell, there appears to be an absolute lack of road courtesy on the part of most automobile drivers. When more than one man is assigned to a vehicle, the helper should take the position on the ground where he has an unobstructed view of traffic and pedestrians approaching from all directions. This by no means is always done. It can be accounted for by no other reason than neglect and laziness. What Mr. Held says regarding express trucks applies with equal force to all other motor cars. =Other Forms of Carelessness.=--Mr. Held also speaks of claims presented because drivers cut in ahead of street cars and were caught, demolishing the truck and injuring the street car and some of its passengers. Also, he continues, “there are a fair proportion of accidents from vehicles being turned to and from the car tracks. The driver should always determine whether the way is clear before diverting the course of his vehicle.” There are many other forms of careless or reckless driving that might be mentioned, such as, driving too close in heavy traffic, cutting in on traffic--“stealing the road,” turning in the middle of a city block, attempting to turn in too small a space, failure to go slowly near a school house or children’s play ground, failure to be on the lookout for playing children elsewhere, failure to try to anticipate what the other fellow is going to do. =The Car.=--The car itself may be the cause of accidents. Faulty design may result in the breaking of essential parts when the car is going at a rapid gait. It must be said to the credit of modern design and manufacture that while many parts break, few of those that may cause the car to turn turtle or otherwise injure the passengers are found in the number. It is remarkable that they are so few. =Skidding.=--Failure to use wheel anti-skid chains on a slippery road or pavement is a fertile source of danger. Skidding may break a wheel or cause a collision with another car, or the car itself may slide off an embankment into the ditch. Sometimes, too, cars skid on loose gravel, or clods of earth, or even on slightly rough roads where a sufficient contact between wheel and ground is not obtained for a good grip. =The Brake.=--Perhaps the most serious danger in the car mechanism is the brake. Mr. Harold F. Blanchard writing in _Motor_ (New York), argues that more than half, probably as much as 90 per cent of all motor accidents may be eliminated by making the stopping ability of motor vehicles a maximum instead of 25 to 50 per cent, as is now the rule. He would have brakes put on all four wheels and claims thereby the braking power of the machine can be more than doubled. He further maintains that the braking power of the ordinary car is extremely low, due, sometimes to the design of the braking system and sometimes to the failure of the owner to adjust the brakes properly. He states that a car equipped with an efficiently constructed system of brakes on four wheels may be stopped from a speed of 30 miles per hour in 36 feet, whereas an average car in the hands of the average motorist will require from 100 to 150 feet. He thinks the brake should be powerful enough to lock the wheel through which it acts. This is not possible on many cars, especially trucks, and it is the reason, he says, why there are so many truck accidents in spite of their low speed. He argues that since very few crises arise so abruptly that the accident takes place before there has been some opportunity to slow down, and that a majority of accidents occur during the latter part of the stopping period, therefore, the substitution of 100 per cent braking power on four wheels instead of the present 25 per cent, the decelerating period will be reduced to one-half or one-quarter its former length, and consequently the number of “accidents would be reduced to a mere shadow of their present magnitude.” Some automotive engineers think it best not to lock the wheels completely in braking. That the best plan is to apply the pressure only until incipient locking has been reached but the wheels are still rolling. The driver has little control of a skidding car, and certainly would have none whatever with all four wheels locked. While the wheels are still moving there is a chance to guide the car so as to avoid an obstruction even though it can not be stopped in time. Steering and braking should go together. On some of the steep mountain roads, which, because of their length and relative grade with the bottom of the canyon, appear to be nearly level, it is impossible to hold the car with the brake alone. It is customary in such cases to assist the brake with the engine; unless the driver is very expert at changing gears the engine should be put in low, or intermediate, depending on the steepness, at the top of the hill, then with brakes and clutch the car may be controlled and kept to a safe speed. The brakes being under the car are more or less difficult to get at, they form no part of the ornamental finish, and as a consequence usually are neglected until they become so very bad that they scarcely brake the car at all. They receive the mud and water from the roadway. The joints and pivots become rusted so that even with good bands they are only a quarter to a half efficient. It will pay better than life insurance to keep the brakes in first class condition. =Flexibility.=--While the brakes are most useful in the prevention of accidents, it frequently happens that a quick pick-up is also important. In crossing the street ahead of a car coming at right angles, for instance, there may be no time to stop, no chance to turn, the only thing that can be done is to “give her gas” and shoot ahead at full speed. A flexible engine with ability to change quickly from fast to slow and from slow to fast velocities will in the hands of an expert driver prevent many an accident. =Steering and Turning Ability.=--It has been mentioned several times that steering is a matter of importance in the prevention of accidents. Designing engineers should, therefore, take that into account. It was formerly thought that turning ability is a function of the length of wheel base, but there are other things to be taken into account and some late designs with reasonably long wheel bases are able to turn in half the radius that was required for some of the older designs with shorter wheel bases. =Lights.=--The lights whether on your car or another car are often serious sources of danger. If there is not enough illumination one is always liable to get off the roadway. If there is a large amount of illumination improperly controlled the glare is quite as dangerous to approaching vehicles. State regulations usually require two white lights ahead and one red light behind. The two-light regulation is wise. When one approaches a single lighted machine he can not tell which of the two lights is out, or whether or not it is a motorcycle. Many accidents have been caused on account of this fact by not giving sufficient clearance to pass the approaching vehicle. When meeting a one lighted machine the driver should always slow down and give as much clearance as the road will allow. Safety first. The red light behind of course saves many a rear end collision. As to whether it should be red or white is questionable. Glaring lights became such a menace to safety that most of the states have enacted laws requiring all lenses used to comply with certain requirements, and providing that they be approved after tests by some competent authority. By doing away with plain lenses and properly corrugating the glass, lenses have now been produced which go far toward removing the glare. With proper lenses and reflectors the lights may be so regulated that the beam of light will illuminate the roadway almost completely across its width and from 200 to 300 feet ahead of the vehicle and at no place go higher than 56 inches above the ground. But even with the best lenses and best adjustments it is impossible to see beyond an extremely bright light so in passing such a light there is always the chance of running into an unlighted parked car, or other obstruction, or a ditch at the side of the road. In passing such a light the eyes should be kept on the road and shielded, if possible, from the glare of the other machine. The precaution of driving slowly under such circumstances goes without saying. =Unlighted Vehicles.=--Unlighted, horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles, and animals driven or walking in the street frequently give the automobile driver palpitation of the heart. Even if the law does not require it horse-drawn vehicles ought to bear lights or reflectors which would give a warning to the coming automobilist. Bright reflecting surfaces will flash back the rays of light from the automobile lamps and are much better than no lights at all. A California freighter who had many pack mules going along the automobile highway to and from the mountains continually kept such reflectors on both the head straps and cruppers of his animals with the result that very many less were struck by automobiles than before the reflectors were used. It is only by the reflections from lenses and bright parts of automobiles parked without lights, contrary to law, along the streets that saves them from being run into and smashed, to say nothing of personal injuries and the probable loss of lives. =Speedometer.=--Every automobile should be equipped with a good speedometer. Speed limits are known to most drivers and if constantly stared in the face by good clear speedometer numbers they are not so likely to exceed them as if they depended entirely upon a sense of velocity, which is merely relative at the best. A motorist is driving along a country highway at a speed of 25 miles an hour, say, when he comes to a village with a sign out, “Speed Limit, 15 miles.” He slacks to that speed by speedometer but feels he is only traveling 5 or 10 miles an hour. Railroad companies found it advantageous to equip their locomotives with self-registering speedometers in order to reduce the number of accidents due to speeding. The automobilist with a speedometer before him has no excuse, at least, for speeding. =Bad Roads Cause Accidents.=--It is not always the fault of the driver or the vehicle that there is an accident. The roads may be at fault, and while careful driving may decrease the number it can not eliminate all. Slipperiness is hard to combat. This will vary of course with the types of road, with grades, and with height of crowns. But even a pavement, which in dry weather is perfectly safe, will, when it becomes moist, especially if there is a small amount of dust or clay on it, be extremely slippery. Earth roads when they are wet on top and hard below are very treacherous. All types become slippery in the winter when there is ice and snow. A thorough flushing of pavements, which will remove surplus dust and clay, preferably done at night, is a good remedy for slipperiness. The use of sand or cinders on turns is sometimes resorted to where absolute cleanliness can not be obtained by flushing. Extra precautions by the drivers over the slippery roads and streets is always a good thing. The investigations of the Maryland Highway Commission indicate that about 20 per cent of all the accidents can be attributed to wet and slippery roads. In the construction of roads high crowns should be avoided. On earth roads the crowns should never exceed one inch per foot and if the road is one that is much used and carefully maintained so that it is hard, should be about one-half inch per foot. A crown of one inch to the foot is equivalent to an 8¹⁄₃ per cent grade down which vehicles will easily run and off which they will slide in slippery weather. Vehicles seek the center of the road when the crown is high both for comfort and safety but two passing vehicles can not be there at the same time. On hard pavements a quarter of an inch per foot will furnish ample drainage, and that is all the crown is for anyway. =Embankments and Guard Rails.=--Too many roadways are built on narrow embankments and often there are no guard rails. The embankment should always be wide enough to accommodate the traffic with an ample factor of safety. It is not uncommon for vehicles to slide off embankments with fatal results. The writer has before him a recent newspaper clipping of one such case where a bus slipped off the roadway and toppled into the ditch killing one man and injuring several others; the busman had no indemnity insurance. Chains on the wheels of the bus or heavy guard rails might have prevented the accident. =The danger from sharp turns= in roads is so well recognized that state systems are now specifying a minimum radius of 200 feet and when practicable laying curves out very much flatter. The pavement is also being widened at the turns so as to allow the same turning radius on the inner as on the outer track in order that the temptation for vehicles to cross over to the other track may be lessened. [Illustration: Pavements should be widened on a curve so that the inner row of vehicles may pass around on the same curvature as the outer row.] =Superelevation.=--The superelevation of the outer side of a curved roadway can not at one and the same time be made suitable for all rates of speed. Works on mechanics give the formula for the elevations of the outer edge as _av_² _e_ = ----- _gR_ where _e_ = the elevation in feet; _a_ = the width of road in feet; _g_ = acceleration of gravity in ft. per sec. per sec.; _v_ = velocity in ft. per sec.; _R_ = radius in feet. Or if the velocity, _V_, is given in miles per hour and the elevation, _E_, in inches this reduces to 121_aV_² 0.807_aV_² _E_ = -------- = ---------- 150_R_ _R_ [Illustration: © _Underwood and Underwood_ A DANGEROUS CURVE AT LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN A DANGEROUS CURVE MADE SAFE BY AN ARTISTIC CONCRETE WALL The Tennessee State Highway at Lookout Mountain, Built of Cemented Concrete.] The country pavements are usually superelevated for 12 miles per hour. Even this with the minimum radius gives a surface so tipped that it is difficult for horse-drawn wagons to remain on it unless the horses trot around the curve. Substituting for a velocity of 12 miles per hour, a width of 20 feet, and a radius of 200 feet there results _E_ = 11.6 inches. The following table gives the necessary elevation in inches that there shall be no side thrust at various speeds, for a road one foot wide. To get the elevation for any width multiply by the width. TABLE OF SUPERELEVATION IN INCHES PER FOOT OF WIDTH ------+--------------------------------------- | Speed in Miles per Hour Radius+----+------+------+------+------+------ Feet | 10 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 30 | 40 ------+----+------+------+------+------+------ |Inch|Inches|Inches|Inches|Inches|Inches 100 |0.81| 1.16 | 1.82 | 3.23 | 7.26 |12.91 200 | .40| .58 | .91 | 1.61 | 3.63 | 6.46 300 | .27| .38 | .61 | 1.08 | 2.45 | 4.30 400 | .20| .29 | .45 | .81 | 1.81 | 3.23 500 | .16| .23 | .36 | .64 | 1.45 | 2.58 ------+----+------+------+------+------+------ Unless the road is intended for a speedway, 12 miles per hour would be about the right speed to use. In rounding a curve of radius 200 feet at a speed of 30 miles per hour, superelevated as shown in the table for 12 miles per hour the coefficient of friction would have to be about one-fourth to prevent skidding. In dry weather this would practically always be exceeded. A committee of the National Highway Traffic Association, 1922, recommends “that on all curves of more than three degrees the pavement and inner-half of the earth shoulder should be banked. This superelevation should vary from 0 for a 3-degree curve to 1 inch per foot of width for curves of 20 degrees or sharper.” =Clear Vision.=--Clear vision is another thing that should be insisted upon as a means for safety. Weeds, brush and trees are all too frequently allowed to obscure the sight. With ordinary brakes on smooth roads from 100 to 150 feet is needed to stop a car moving at 30 miles per hour. With first-class brakes this might be decreased, but since it usually takes a driver a short period to react from the time a car heaves in sight or he sees a break in the pavement or some other obstruction, there should be allowed 150 feet to stop if the roads are smooth and hard. In order that there might be a good factor of safety it is desirable to get at least 250 feet clear vision. This will require for a 200-ft. radius that the brush, trees and so on should be cut back about 27 feet from the traveled way. As the radius becomes larger the distance necessary to clear back becomes less: 300-ft. radius, clearance, 12 ft.; 400-ft. radius, 7 ft.; 500-ft. radius, 4 ft. In case the curve is in a cut the bank on the inside at the height of the eye should be excavated far enough back to give the necessary clear vision. At the corners of city streets it will, of course, be impossible to get a 200-ft. radius. A 12- or 14-ft. radius may usually be obtained. The rule to turn close to the curb may then be accomplished with the ordinary automobile providing it is not going very fast. With a square angle or a short 2- or 3-ft. radius as it was formerly the custom to put in, and still is in places, it is practically impossible to keep from going at least to the middle of the street thus endangering motors on the other side. The cut shows the lines of travel. [Illustration: Diagram to show why curb corners should be cut back.] =Curves.=--Notwithstanding curves are dangerous the records of the Maryland State Commission, heretofore referred to, show that the largest number of accidents occur at places which always have been considered safe, while the sections that have been regarded as very dangerous are relatively free from accidents. On the long straight stretches, with good vision and free from any elements that might be considered dangerous, have occurred the greatest number of accidents. The commission accounts for this on the theory “that even the less careful motorists drive cautiously in the presence of recognized dangers, such as steep grades, sharp curves, grade crossings, etc., while the absence of such dangerous features gives the driver a sense of security which prompts him to take a chance and yield to the well nigh universal passion for speed.”[204] =Bridges and Culverts.=--Many road accidents can be attributed to poor and poorly located bridges and culverts. Wooden bridges and culverts soon decay and become so weak that a heavy vehicle will break them down. Often culverts of the best type are not cared for as they should be or there is no abutment protection with the result that a freshet will wash under and about them so that they are real sources of danger. Frequently the damage is not visible to the driver and the first warning is when his vehicle goes down. In order to shorten them and thus lessen the cost, bridges are often built straight across the stream or draw, but at a skew to the roadway, thus requiring a sudden turn to get on to them. Very frequently, too, bridges and culverts are built too narrow with no guard rails or markers leading up to them. Notwithstanding the fact that thorough bridging constitutes a considerable portion of the expense of road construction, the best plan is to put in substantial structures, wide as the traveled way, and straight with it, thus lessening a grave source of danger. =Railway Crossing Accidents.=--The great number of fatalities at railway crossings has for years been a theme for much talk, and many suggestions for the elimination of grade crossings have been made. The public seems to think that the railways are the ones that oppose the elimination. As a matter of fact they would welcome elimination if it could be done at reasonable cost. In 1919 there were eliminated 399 crossings “but there are still 251,939 crossings on Class 1 Railroads (revenue of over $1,000,000 annually) alone and the conservatively estimated sum which would be required to eliminate all remaining crossings in the entire United States is placed as high as $12,500,000,000, which cannot be immediately available.”[205] It is estimated that more than 2000 persons are killed annually in the United States at these crossings. The Pennsylvania R.R. Bulletin, February, 1914, states that 430 crossings were eliminated on that road from 1904 to 1913 at a total cost of $27,742,433--an average of $64,518 per crossing. In Illinois the average cost of eliminating ten crossings was $58,000. In California the average cost is estimated at $30,000; in Colorado, $40,000; in New York, $48,000; and in Wisconsin, $25,000, according to the bulletin mentioned. Even at pre-war prices the average cost for the whole United States was put at $40,000. Since there are in the whole country something over 300,000 crossings that will account for the $12,000,000,000 necessary. The public must remember that the elimination of crossings even if the railways could finance such a vast operation would eventually be charged up to and paid for by the public. While the railroads have a direct interest in checking crossing accidents, yet in the first and last analysis the public itself suffers the pain, the mutilation, and the passing to the Great Beyond, in addition to bearing the financial burden.[206] F. T. Darrow, Asst. Chief. Engr., C. B. & Q. R.R., makes this calculation[207] for the State of Nebraska. Population 1,350,000 Miles of railway track 6,516 Number of grade crossings 11,300 Cost of entire removal $452,000,000 Cost per mile of track 70,000 Cost per person 330 Nearly doubling the cost value of the railroads, at a price 11 times as much as railroad service now costs per annum per person. But suppose the cost were put upon the public at the beginning, the state would have to finance the $452,000,000, and if it were placed as a charge against the 80,000 miles of rural highway and the 45,000 miles of city and village streets, it would amount to $3600 per mile. Similar calculations could be made for each of the States. From the above it does not appear probable that either the railroads or the state or both together, can afford to pay for the elimination of all grade crossings right away. It is probable that they will be gradually done away with, although Mr. Darrow states that at present two or three crossings are added to the list for each one subtracted. The railroads realize that it is incumbent on them to make the crossings as safe as possible but that they must look to the education of the public as a means of immediately reducing fatalities. Hence the “Cross Crossings Cautiously” campaign in 1922. The bulletin states that the “Safety First” organized effort had reduced the number of deaths among railway employees from 4354 in 1907 to 2578 in 1920. A thing well worth while and a similar campaign against carelessly crossing crossings may change, at least, the rate of acceleration of crossing accidents, which have increased in the past thirty years 345 per cent in fatal and 652 per cent in injury cases, while the country’s population has increased in the same time only 68 per cent. =The Automobile and Crossing Accidents.=--To the automobile is attributed much of the increase. And to careless, indifferent and reckless driving the greater per cent of it. The railways have made numerous counts which show the carelessness of the people at railway crossings. Those given below are typical of them all. In December, 1913, St. Louis: Per Cent Stopped and looked in both directions--pedestrians 1 Kept moving and looked in both directions (of all pedestrians, vehicles, teams and autos) 2 Kept moving and looked in one direction 7 Kept moving and looked straight ahead 91 (on a total of over 30,000 individual movements) On the Baltimore and Ohio, Southwest, 1914: Per Cent Stopped and looked both directions 5 Kept moving and looked in both directions 13 Kept moving and looked in one direction 18 Kept moving and looked straight ahead 69 In California, 1913: Per Cent Stopped and looked in both directions 0.2 Kept moving and looked in both directions 35 Kept moving and looked in one direction 7 Kept moving and looked straight ahead 58 The California Railway Commission in 1917 tested 17,000 motor vehicle drivers: 27.8 per cent looked both ways 2.7 per cent looked only one way 65.5 per cent looked neither way before crossing. A Southern Pacific Railway folder gives these figures for automobile accidents during the period from January 1 to August 1, 1917, taken from the figures of eighteen railroads: Total number of accidents 769 Trains striking autos 426 Autos striking trains 112 Autos running through crossing gates 143 Accidents at protected crossings 766 Accidents at unprotected crossings 3 Accidents at night 168 Accidents during daylight 540 Persons injured 515 Persons killed 99 The fact that practically all these accidents occurred at protected crossings would seem to indicate that most people trust the railway to look out for them, and do not assume any individual responsibility. It is to be noted, also, that those who did not look either way are in the majority in every count. Also the number of automobiles that run into trains is about one-fourth as many as those that try but fail to get by in front of the train. Enough has been said to prove this to be an important item in the vital and financial economies of the nation. The question then is, what is the remedy? No specific can be given but relief, partial, may be secured. (1) Eliminate grade crossings as rapidly as possible. For this a coöperation between public and railroad by legislation might be fair. Some States already do this going “fifty-fifty” on the expense. (2) By combining public roads, that is vacating some, changing others by relocation following along the railroad rather than cross over the track twice as may be necessary if section lines be followed. Frequently the shortening of the distance and betterment of grades will pay for the improvement. (3) By taking advantage of natural features in the location of new lines of road and railway, and the relocation of old, to avoid grade crossings. This has been done to a considerable extent in the more recent locations. (4) By proper location and construction details: (_a_) Sharp angles in crossing should be avoided. The crossing should be made as nearly at right angles to the track as possible. Flat easy curves can usually be made to lead up to the crossing to accomplish this. Secure an angle greater than 60° if possible. Catching wheels in the flangeways or slipping along the track is common when the angle is sharp. Also a view of the track to the rear is difficult. (_b_) Steep grades near the track should be avoided. In Kansas and Colorado the rule is for a level grade for 20 feet from the track. It would be better to have this read “not steeper than a 2 per cent grade downward from the track for at least 40 feet.” The roadway would by this slight slope of not more than 2 feet in 100 feet be better drained and therefore would keep in better condition. Level roads are liable to hold water in the ruts and depressions softening them and the railway track as well. A definite rule should not be made, for circumstances alter cases. The rails are not always level. If the track is in curve at point of crossing one rail will be superelevated above the other. If the track is in cut, or half cut, it may require different treatment than if in fill. The following sketches will illustrate this. [Illustration: Steep grades at a crossing should be avoided. The grade of the highway must conform to the elevation of the rails.] (_c_) For the same reason the road should have a crown, the amount depending on the type, earth, sand-clay, and gravel roads from ¹⁄₂ to 1 inch per foot of width, concrete, asphalt, brick and other hard surfaces may have less. (_d_) Clear vision for several hundred feet from the roadway along the track should be secured if possible. This may often be done by the removal of brush and weeds and the trimming of trees. During certain seasons of the year cornfields may obstruct the view from some little distance down the road, but if there is a comparatively level stopping place near the crossing the driver ought to be able to slow down his machine, to have it under thorough control, so that it could be stopped quickly and far enough away from the track for safety, while he looks both ways along the track. A little coöperation between railroad and farmer may result in the planting of low growing crops where the view would be obstructed by the high growing corn. The farmer might also be willing to have hedges trimmed low and trees trimmed high in such localities. In some states the laws provide for the annual trimming of trees and hedges near railway crossings. (_e_) The railways at the request of the road officers will usually arrange the rails so that no joint will come upon the crossing, thus keeping both road and track in better condition. [Illustration: Safety turn at a railway crossing.] (_f_) The building of a right-hand turn along the railway track at each crossing on to which the motorist seeing that he could not pass ahead of the train or stop his car could drive. See the figure above. (5) Drivers when they see a train approaching should make it a point to stop at least 100 feet away from the track. If a flying stop is made right near the track the engineman will be at a loss whether to apply the air for the train to stop or take a chance of hitting the vehicle. Enginemen will appreciate a little courtesy of this kind. Also it will be much easier to get a start to make the grade over the crossing if a longer distance is allowed. (6) Markers indicating the approach to a railroad crossing placed 300 feet back will serve as a caution warning. A good many states are providing their highways with standard markers. In Illinois certain crossings are designated with a stop sign and it is a misdemeanor to go over without first coming to a full stop. In another state the law requires a stop at all crossings and a ditch, or “thank-you-ma’am” practically enforces the law. (7) Automatic electrically driven gongs, bells, colored disks, waving arms, or red lights are expedients in quite common use. (8) Crossing gates and watchmen are used where the traffic is heavy. They are expensive and railroads like to avoid them wherever possible. On Long Island it is said light gates were run down by the motorists. Very heavy gates are said to have proven more efficacious. (9) Locomotives should be equipped with whistles and bells sufficiently penetrating to be easily heard by drivers of moving automobiles. Mr. Byron Clark, Chief Counsel of the Burlington railway west of the Missouri River, called the author’s attention to what he believes to be a fact, namely, that automobilists when traveling at a rapid gait do not hear the locomotive whistle which the state law and the railway rules require to be sounded before each crossing. Since my attention has been called to this matter I have watched it quite closely and believe Mr. Clark to be right. Frequently I hear the engine bell but not the whistle. It might be well to experiment with whistles and bells of various types. Is there a difference in the audibility of high-pitched and low-pitched whistles and bells? (10) But no matter what mechanical devices there are, how carefully the enginemen obey the law about whistling, or how vigorously the watchman swings his signal, lack of care on the part of the driver will be productive of accidents. Before they can be avoided or even decreased materially it will be necessary for the people generally to come to a full understanding that they owe it to themselves, to the public and to the nation to be careful. Life and accident insurance is only a method of spreading the cost of loss due to death and accident over a larger number. The economic loss to the people as a whole is just as great whether there is or is not any insurance. An accident is always an economic waste. “A careful man is the best safety device known.” =Clearance.=--The New York State Highway Commission makes it a rule to secure the following clearance: When a highway passes under a railroad the crown elevation is made 13.5 feet below the bottom of the bridge girder, and the minimum right angle distance between abutments is taken as 26 feet. The distance from the base of the rail to the bottom of the girder varies with the span of the bridge and ranges from 2 ft. 2 in. for a 30-foot span to 2 ft. 4¹⁄₂ in. for a 110-foot span. Where the highway crosses over the railroad a minimum clearance of 21.0 feet is required from the top of the rail to the bottom of the highway bridge girders. The span or right angle opening will vary with the number of tracks and the standards of the railways. It is, of course, well to have a clear opening over the entire used roadway. The practice in some places, of having piers or piles in the center of the road, unless there is placed around these a safety zone or park extending each way along the street so that traffic may be separated some little distance before coming to the pier, is not to be commended. =Pedestrians.=--While it has been said that 90 per cent of the accidents are due to lack of caution on the part of the driver, it must not be thought that there is no contributory negligence. Pedestrians constantly go across the street without looking up to right or left. Others look with a leer as much as to say, “hit me if you dare,” and leisurely proceed. They will not hurry one bit, thus causing a slow down of the approaching motor and that in turn of the next, and the next, producing a congestion in traffic with its known liabilities. Each party has a right to the street, but courtesy should be extended on both sides. When there is no traffic officer, motorists should remember to give pedestrians time to cross, and pedestrians should hurry a little so as not to delay motor traffic. =Jay Walking.=--Another source of danger which can not be too strongly condemned is the practice of “jay walking.” The driver of a car along a crowded thoroughfare is never sure but what some person will pop out from behind a parked vehicle and start across the street directly ahead of his machine. By the ordinances of most cities parking is prohibited near the ends of blocks and the proper walking spaces. Vision is there clear to the sidewalks. The motorist is expecting pedestrians and is on the lookout for them. But in the middle of the block with parked cars along each side with travel more rapid than over the walking spaces it is difficult to avoid hitting the exasperating jay walker. =Obstacles that Obscure Vision.=--Many pedestrians have received injury or been killed by stepping around the rear of street cars, trucks, and other obstructions to clear vision, directly in front of a passing vehicle. So suddenly does the pedestrian come into the path of the moving vehicle that the driver can not stop before hitting him. The remedy is care on the part of the pedestrian. Look before crossing, is always an excellent slogan. =Pedestrians on Country Roads.=--When pedestrians walk along country roads they should habitually take their left-hand side. Thus they will meet face to face those machines that are passing along that side of the roadway, whereas if they walk on the right-hand side the machines are coming up from their rear and may come near before sounding the horn. A startled person often jumps in the wrong direction, thus moving in front of instead of away from the impending danger. =Slow-Going Vehicles.=--Horse-drawn vehicles should travel on the outer side of the road if possible in order to allow faster going vehicles to pass them readily. Often a slow-going truck will take the middle of the roadway and stubbornly keep it even when asked courteously by horn to get over. In trying to pass by going partially off the paved way motors have slipped down due to the soft earth shoulders, with serious injuries to both persons and machines. Where traffic is heavy congestion results from slow-going vehicles not taking the outer side of the way, with its usual disastrous effects. =Bicycles.=--Boys on bicycles become extremely careless and fool-hardy. They cut in front of rapidly moving cars and weave from one side of the roadway to the other. They dart in from behind a parked car or from a side street. When moving not straight along the wheels are always likely to slip on wet spots in the pavement or catch in the flangeway of the street-car tracks. The bicycle is in itself a very useful machine and, perhaps, the most economical vehicle built. Its use is to be encouraged by furnishing special pathways for it to run upon wherever that is practicable. When used on the main thoroughfares extreme care is necessary. The motorcycle is a rapidly going machine and should be treated in the same category as the automobile. The matter of lights for non-motorized traffic has been mentioned. It would be well for all to carry lights or reflectors. Motor-cycles with side-cars should carry two lights in front, one for the cycle and the other for the side-car. =Road and Traffic Regulations.=--Very great credit for the development of traffic regulation in the United States during the past two decades is due to the persistent and unselfish efforts of William Phelps Eno,[208] who in the latter part of the last century began an agitation to reform the traffic situation in New York City. In December, 1899,[209] he published an article on “Reform in Our Street Traffic Most Urgently Needed,” followed by many others, with personal letters and visits to the city officers, and with the publication of circulars and pamphlets. At first he was not received very favorably by city officers who seemed more interested in “what personal benefit” Eno expected to get out of it, than to the good that would come to the public through such regulation. He later received favorable consideration by Maj. Gen. Francis V. Greene, Police Commissioner, and by Capt. A. R. Piper, U. S. A. Retired, who had been placed in charge of traffic. In a letter dated October 14, 1909, General Greene gives due credit to Eno, thus,[210] The plan for street traffic regulation owed its inception to you, and you have followed it up consistently and persistently to its present almost perfect development; and in so doing you have conferred a benefit upon New Yorkers and the dwellers in other large cities, of very large proportions. As a result of the combined work of the city officers and Mr. Eno, a code was compiled which later furnished the basis for the code adopted by the Highway Transport Committee of the Council of National Defense, U. S. A., May 8, 1919. Most of the larger cities in the United States, together with Paris and other European cities, have adopted this or similar codes. A universal standardization of the National Defense Code is being sought now by a national organization--The Eno Foundation for Highway Traffic Regulation, Inc.[211] This code has been revised once or twice since first adopted by New York. The Foundation will be glad to receive suggestions for its betterment from any persons interested. Campaigns like the “Safety First” and the “Cross Crossings Cautiously” and other “No Accident” campaigns have marked effects. If the necessity of care could be instilled into the mind of every person, if each could be made to realize that the next accident might be his, that accidents are not only painful and disagreeable but always result in the destruction of property, in personal injury or the loss of life, the sum total of savings in money and humanity would be tremendous. All the devices of human ingenuity, all the laws of the sages, and the education of all agencies will not bring absolute safety. The human race is too ignorant, too indolent, too self-complacent, too near, in short, the outskirts of civilization, and the person who suggests the utmost care, who would curtail the thrills of chance and danger is a “joy killer” and a “crèpe hanger.” Perhaps so. Infinite care might result in “innocuous desuetude.” It is said that there was introduced into a western legislature a bill providing that two trains on different tracks approaching their crossing point “should both stop and neither proceed until the other had passed.” The other extreme is fatalism: “on with the dance, let joy be unconfined”; “eat, drink and be merry.” Is there not a golden mean? SELECTED REFERENCES Accidents, Symposium on Automobile Hazards, by Ralph Stickle, James L. Roche, Joseph H. Handlon, and William G. Fitzpatrick. _Electric Railway Journal_, Vol. LVI, pp. 913-921. American Railway Association, Bulletin issued as a part of the “Cross Crossings Cautiously,” campaign, 1922. DARROW, F. T., Asst. Chief Engr., C. B. & Q. R. R., “Grade Crossing Elimination,” _Nebraska Blue Print_, May, 1920. Lincoln. ENO, WILLIAM PHELPS, “The Science of Highway Traffic Regulation,” published by himself and distributed by Brentano’s, New York. “Facts and Figures of the Automobile Industry,” 1922, National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, New York. _Harper’s Weekly_, Accounts and pictures of early railway accidents, years 1840-1860. HELD, L. A., Adjuster for the American Railway Express Company, _Express Messenger_, July, 1922. WILLIAR, HARRY D., JR., “Maryland Road Accident Map.” _Public Roads_, September, 1921. FOOTNOTES [201] “Facts and figures of the Automobile Industry,” 1922, published by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, gives the following table under the heading “Ratio of Accidents to Traffic Declines”: ----+---------+-----------+------------+----------+---------- |Number of| Total | |Number of | Auto | Auto | Number | | Cars | Deaths | Deaths | Auto[202] |Registration| per 1000 | per 1000 Year| per Car | Deaths | of Cars |Population|Population ----+---------+-----------+------------+----------+---------- 1917| .0019 | 9,184 | 4,983,340 | 48 | .0887 1918| .0016 | 9,672 | 6,146,617 | 59 | .0919 1919| .0013 | 9,827 | 7,558,848 | 71 | .0936 1920| .00123 |11,358 | 9,211,295 | 87 | .1040 1921| .00119 |12,500[203]| 10,448,632 | 99 | .1100 ----+---------+-----------+------------+----------+---------- [202] Estimated of entire U. S. by National Workmen’s Compensation Service Bureau applying Census Bureau for registration area to grand total. [203] Estimated from incomplete figures. Later statistics of the U. S. Census Bureau gives automobile accidents in 1921, 9103; in 1922, 10,168. [204] Harry D. Williar, Jr., Assistant Chief Engineer, in _Public Roads_, September, 1921. [205] Bulletin issued by the American Railway Association as a part of the “Cross Crossings Cautiously” campaign, June to September, inclusive, 1922. [206] “Cross Crossings Cautiously” Bulletin. [207] Nebraska _Blue Print_, May, 1920. Published by the Engineering Society of the University of Nebraska. [208] Formerly Chairman of the Citizens’ Street Traffic Committee of New York City, Honorary President of the Highway Traffic Association of the state of New York, Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Highway Transport Committee of the United States Council of National Defense, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Eno Foundation for Highway Traffic Regulation, Inc., etc. [209] “The Science of Highway Traffic Regulation,” by W. P. Eno. Distributed by Brentano’s, New York. [210] Eno, op. cit. [211] Main Office, Saugatuck, Fairfield County, Conn.