CROSSING CAMPAIGN

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12389, 8 March 1926, Page 6

CROSSING CAMPAIGN

SCHEME It BE LAUNCHED STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER DUTY OF MOTOR DRIVERS Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH. March 7. The Rt. Hon. J, G. Coates, as Minister for Hallways, made a statement on Saturday regarding the level crossings, and announced that the department is launching a careful crossing campaign. “Reports appearing in the Press recently regarding the level crossing fatalities and the comments made thereon at the meetings of the Cham6ers of Commerce, and by the newspapers, give ground for a restatement of the position in which, the railways and road users stand in relation to the use of level crossings,” said 'Mr Coates. “It is olvious to all reasonable persons that all trains cannot run always to time and that, even if they could, the scheduling of them to pass all level crossings at certain fixed times would be out of the question. It is also clear that a proportion of non-timetable trains must run to meet emergencies or for special purposes of any kind. That being so, it follows that to assume at any time that because q certain regular train should have passed there is no further need for exercising care at a railway crossiag, is to take grave and unwarranted risks. The number of accidents through vehicles, particularly motor vehicles, colloding with trains indicates that the drivers of the vehicles have been neglecting the duty they owe both to themselves and to the train-using public. THE LEGAL POSITION “The legal position was clearly stated in a New Zealand Supreme Court case, the judgment (in part) being as follows: ‘Prima facie, however, and in the absence of special circumstances of justification, a man who enters on a level u ossing in front of an approaching train, and is there run down by it, must himself have been guilty of failure to use due care for his own safety. To look down and listen is in all oidinarv cases an effective precaution against such an accident-, and it is the duty of all persons before entering on a railway crossing to look and listen accordingly, and by reducing speed n- otherwise to place themselves in such a situation . that they can look and listen effectively.’ “The responsibilitv is definitely fixed by the law, and reason bears IN out that the cause of humanity requires of every person before proceeding to negotiate a level crossing, that he shall assure himself as t 6 the safety of doing so. “On the ground of very large expenditure involved, probably not less than £2,000,000, the complete elimination of level-crossings is not within the bounds of practical consideration at the present ‘Railway crossing arms are displayed at a reasonable distance from all !evel crossings and the usual ‘Stop! Lock out, for the engine’ notice at the crossing itself. “In our own nain cities by-laws have recently been passed . requiring vehicular traffic to stop behind tramcars when the latter are slowing down • for a stop in order that \tbe passengers from and to the tramcars may cross the road in safety. Observance of this precaution has had most vainable effect in reducing the number of street accidents, but in complying with it motorists have frequently to stop many times in travelling a mile through the city streets. WARNINGS IGNORED “Yet, out on the country, roads in spite of all the -warning signs and the knowledge of frecpient fatal re. suits from neglect, drivers of vehicles whose very lives in ay depend on taking this precaution, frequently recklessly ignore the necessity for care at what is perhaps the only level crossing in many miles. .The toll of accidents of this kind is too heavy and too serious a matter to be left entirely to the good sense and care of the drivers of the roah using vehicles, and the public welfare demands that stringent measures he taken to ensure that the.law is complied with. The department, for its part, has provided for approximately ten -level crossings in one year, and has in mind completing a further quota at an early date. It has also installed bells and other warning appliances (which are not infrequently ignored) at a large number of level crossings, and is continuing the erection of these devices in the order of their urgency, besides co-operating with the local bodies 'in the provision of overbridges or subways where these are called-.for, but care on the part of the road,, users and the adoption of such measures as will impress on tlieir minds the dangers and penalties attaching to the neglect of due precaution at level crossings are the only means by which the problem can he ultimately solved. “In the meantime, however, the department is . launching a ‘careful crossing campaign’ by means of a wide distribution and display of col- | oured posters and stickers drawing attention to the need fqr the practice of 'satOtw first’ pr'nciples, and it is hoped thatwith the active support and co-operaxten of the local bodies, the automobile associations and other interested societies, the force of publio opinion may also be brought heavily to hear in the universal condemnation of negligence at level crossings on the part of the drivers of readusing vehicles.”