LEVEL CROSSINGS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18152, 15 August 1924, Page 4

LEVEL CROSSINGS.

THE QUESTION OF WARNING. The adequacy. or otherwise, of the warning sounded by locomotives when -ppraaehing level crossings has been the -•'ll'icct ot much comment uy members ot moLoring organisations and of much (.■orr.'sp'.'iideni'e between some of those S.„,i ies and the Railway Department, Yi-sierday "Roadster" obtained some t .\Meiice on ihe subject that was original and opened up a new train of thought. In the course of conversation a wellknown motor-cyclist, whose experience the matter of riding amidst traffic and also in speed events, tiuiiablv second to none, iuformeu. "Roadster" that he recently went_ to the Coast and back by train, his first len ir tr;iin journey for a number ot vcir* as lie travels almost exclusively in-' ni'otor-cvcle, .Some time previously .•["friend of" his had become involved in ;1 level crossing accident, and the friend had declared that the whole of the blame rested with tin: locomotive, whicM had not sounded its whistle. Once well started upon his train journey, the speaker's maul had reverted to his friend's charge against the Department, and he begun to take particular notice of the .speed of the train over level crossings and the sounding ol tiie whisll<\ lie made similar observations on the return journey, and his summiner up was to the effect that a third of the level crossing warning blasts on the whistle were adequate; one-third were sounded 100 far away, and another third' were too short and sharp, and sounded when too close to crossing. The speed of the tram over crossings ranged between forty and forfv-live miles an hour. The traveller found that the view of the railway line from ihe road was often obscured by belts of trees, or that a curve in the line made the approach of a train difficult to observe. Practicallv everyone who has done much travelling by road in the country has had experience of the danger of levelcrossings, and it appears that so long as no precaution is taken other than the blowing of the locomotive whistle, accidents will be constantly occurring. Something more regular than the whistle is required for warning purposes, for that method depends upon human judg- | ment, which is always likely to . err. I When the annual toll of life at cross- ■ ings reaches such proportions that it becomes imperative that something must be done, evidence on the lines of that given by the motor-cyclist who iravelled by train will be valuable.