The public must remember that the elimination of crossings even if the railways could finance such a vast operation would eventually be charged up to and paid for by the public. While the railroads have a direct interest in checking crossing accidents, yet in the first and last analysis the public itself suffers the pain, the mutilation, and the passing to the Great Beyond, in addition to bearing the financial burden.[206]
F. T. Darrow, Asst. Chief. Engr., C. B. & Q. R.R., makes this calculation[207] for the State of Nebraska.
| Population | 1,350,000 |
| Miles of railway track | 6,516 |
| Number of grade crossings | 11,300 |
| Cost of entire removal | $452,000,000 |
| Cost per mile of track | 70,000 |
| Cost per person | 330 |
Nearly doubling the cost value of the railroads, at a price 11 times as much as railroad service now costs per annum per person.
But suppose the cost were put upon the public at the beginning, the state would have to finance the $452,000,000, and if it were placed as a charge against the 80,000 miles of rural highway and the 45,000 miles of city and village streets, it would amount to $3600 per mile. Similar calculations could be made for each of the States.
From the above it does not appear probable that either the railroads or the state or both together, can afford to pay for the elimination of all grade crossings right away. It is probable that they will be gradually done away with, although Mr. Darrow states that at present two or three crossings are added to the list for each one subtracted. The railroads realize that it is incumbent on them to make the crossings as safe as possible but that they must look to the education of the public as a means of immediately reducing fatalities. Hence the “Cross Crossings Cautiously” campaign in 1922. The bulletin states that the “Safety First” organized effort had reduced the number of deaths among railway employees from 4354 in 1907 to 2578 in 1920. A thing well worth while and a similar campaign against carelessly crossing crossings may change, at least, the rate of acceleration of crossing accidents, which have increased in the past thirty years 345 per cent in fatal and 652 per cent in injury cases, while the country’s population has increased in the same time only 68 per cent.
The Automobile and Crossing Accidents.
—To the automobile is attributed much of the increase. And to careless, indifferent and reckless driving the greater per cent of it. The railways have made numerous counts which show the carelessness of the people at railway crossings. Those given below are typical of them all.
In December, 1913, St. Louis:
| Per Cent | |
|---|---|
| Stopped and looked in both directions—pedestrians | 1 |
| Kept moving and looked in both directions (of all pedestrians, vehicles, teams and autos) | 2 |
| Kept moving and looked in one direction | 7 |
| Kept moving and looked straight ahead | 91 |
| (on a total of over 30,000 individual movements) |