RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19832, 30 December 1927, Page 12

RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

Sir,—l think the Herald's? strictures on the Railway Department in regard to crossings, and more particularly that at Argyle Street, are too severe. It is only plain from every-day experience that motor drivers, especially the younger ones,, are too prone to 'chance it." The department cannot be expected to provide guardians at every crossing for those who will not exercise ordinary care. Cancellation of licences on conviction by our magistrates would in time lessen these so-called accidents. G.

Si r< —in view of the latest shocking fatality in their district, last Saturday, I think it is incumbent upon the Mount Albert Borough Council to call a conference of local bodies to demand the immediate elimination of these The time for making "requests" has now gone bv. The task is not an impossible one. Were the railways run by a private company the Government would have compelled proper safeguards long ago. As it is every approach to the 'Railway Department, whether by deputation or letter, is met with the same old excuses of the crossings being taken in rotation, etc. Two years ago I was one of a deputation that waited upon the department in connection with two dangerous crossings in Glen Eden, where, sooner or later, a serious accident is almost sure to happen. We received the usual courteous hearing. Various schemes were discussed to meet the particular difficulty and consideration promised, and there the matter has ended. After all the Railway Department is not altogether to blame. Their business is to make , the railways pay, not to protect road users. The responsibility is a public one, not a departmental one. It is the duty of the public, through their representatives, to demand that immediate steps be taken to protect human life. Here, in this latest instance, we have a woman, in answering the call of motherhood and endeavouring to save her child, mangled, merely because a public department claims sole right of way, irrespective of risk to human life. Nor are the conditions fair to the train crews. No enginedriver should be culled upon needlesslv to undergo the perpetual strain entailed* by these level crossings. A further disaster to another woman and child was narrowly averted when this same train reached New Lynn, owing either to the state of nerves of the train crew or the effort to make up lost time, the train being started when the woman was alighting. I repeat* the suggestion that was made to the department two years ago by the Glen Eden deputation, and that is* that all level crossings be closed by gates before and during the passing of a train, as in England, such gates to be in charge of retired or disabled ex-railway men, or disabled exsoldiers. There' are plenty of them who would bo glad of the work. Another suggestion is that provision should be made to enable old age pensioners to add to their income by taking charge of crossing gates where disabled railway men and ex-soldiers are not available. The cost would be trivial, compared with the present scandalous state of affairs, and should be borne out of public funds and not be a charge against the Railway Department. J. H, Haves.