LEVEL CROSSINGS

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12015, 18 December 1924, Page 4

LEVEL CROSSINGS

Two shocking accidents at railway level crossings within five days—one atj Burnham on Friday last, and the other | near Hukerenui on Tuesday—call attention once more to the urgent need for the installation of effective devices to warn the public when trains are approaching such crossings. As far as pos- 1 sible, of course, .all level crossings, in the more thickly-populated districts, at all events, should be done away with, and bridges or subways substituted. But, where the level crossings cannot be abolished, or where the density of the population is not sufficient to warrant the building of a bridge or the construction of a subway, some reliable method should certainly be adopted—and that without any unavoidable delay—to ensure that at all level crossings adequate notice shall be given of the approach of all trains, shunting engines, and so forth. It is understood that the Railway Department has been experimenting with certain warning devices for some time past; but the department seems to be far too leisurely in regard to the matter. How many more of these fatalities are to occur before the railway authorities “wake up, and get a move on” ? There must, surely, be some simple and effective automatic warning device that could be adopted, and, without any prohibitive expense, installed at every level cross, ing.