At the corners of city streets it will, of course, be impossible to get a 200-ft. radius. A 12- or 14-ft. radius may usually be obtained. The rule to turn close to the curb may then be accomplished with the ordinary automobile providing it is not going very fast. With a square angle or a short 2- or 3-ft. radius as it was formerly the custom to put in, and still is in places, it is practically impossible to keep from going at least to the middle of the street thus endangering motors on the other side. The cut shows the lines of travel.
Diagram to show why curb corners should be cut back.
Curves.
—Notwithstanding curves are dangerous the records of the Maryland State Commission, heretofore referred to, show that the largest number of accidents occur at places which always have been considered safe, while the sections that have been regarded as very dangerous are relatively free from accidents. On the long straight stretches, with good vision and free from any elements that might be considered dangerous, have occurred the greatest number of accidents. The commission accounts for this on the theory “that even the less careful motorists drive cautiously in the presence of recognized dangers, such as steep grades, sharp curves, grade crossings, etc., while the absence of such dangerous features gives the driver a sense of security which prompts him to take a chance and yield to the well nigh universal passion for speed.”[204]
Bridges and Culverts.
—Many road accidents can be attributed to poor and poorly located bridges and culverts. Wooden bridges and culverts soon decay and become so weak that a heavy vehicle will break them down. Often culverts of the best type are not cared for as they should be or there is no abutment protection with the result that a freshet will wash under and about them so that they are real sources of danger. Frequently the damage is not visible to the driver and the first warning is when his vehicle goes down.
In order to shorten them and thus lessen the cost, bridges are often built straight across the stream or draw, but at a skew to the roadway, thus requiring a sudden turn to get on to them. Very frequently, too, bridges and culverts are built too narrow with no guard rails or markers leading up to them. Notwithstanding the fact that thorough bridging constitutes a considerable portion of the expense of road construction, the best plan is to put in substantial structures, wide as the traveled way, and straight with it, thus lessening a grave source of danger.
Railway Crossing Accidents.
—The great number of fatalities at railway crossings has for years been a theme for much talk, and many suggestions for the elimination of grade crossings have been made. The public seems to think that the railways are the ones that oppose the elimination. As a matter of fact they would welcome elimination if it could be done at reasonable cost. In 1919 there were eliminated 399 crossings “but there are still 251,939 crossings on Class 1 Railroads (revenue of over $1,000,000 annually) alone and the conservatively estimated sum which would be required to eliminate all remaining crossings in the entire United States is placed as high as $12,500,000,000, which cannot be immediately available.”[205] It is estimated that more than 2000 persons are killed annually in the United States at these crossings. The Pennsylvania R.R. Bulletin, February, 1914, states that 430 crossings were eliminated on that road from 1904 to 1913 at a total cost of $27,742,433—an average of $64,518 per crossing. In Illinois the average cost of eliminating ten crossings was $58,000. In California the average cost is estimated at $30,000; in Colorado, $40,000; in New York, $48,000; and in Wisconsin, $25,000, according to the bulletin mentioned. Even at pre-war prices the average cost for the whole United States was put at $40,000. Since there are in the whole country something over 300,000 crossings that will account for the $12,000,000,000 necessary.