Handbook of Railroad Construction; For the use of American engineers. / Containing the necessary rules, tables, and formulæ for the location, construction, equipment, and management of railroads, as built in the United States.

by George L. Vose

SAFETY OF RAILROAD TRAVELLING.

9. If we know that in a given time the whole distance travelled by passengers was 500,000 miles, and that in such time there occurred one fatal accident, it follows that when a person travels one mile, the chances are 499,999 against one of losing life. If he travel ten miles, the chances are 49,999 against one, or ten times as many of meeting with loss of life; and generally the chances of accident are as the distance travelled. In 1855, the whole number of miles run by passengers in the United States was, in round numbers, 4,750,000,000, while there were killed one hundred and sixteen; or one in every 41,000,000, very nearly. (The ratio in England is one in every 65,000,000.) Now if for each 400,000 miles travelled by stage passengers, (a distance equal to sixteen times round the world,) one passenger was killed, and if the whole railroad mileage could be worked by stages, there would be annually 11,875 lives lost; or one hundred times the number annually lost by railroad. Thus it would be one hundred times safer to travel by railroad than by stage. The danger of steamboat travelling is far greater than by stage.