(e) The railways at the request of the road officers will usually arrange the rails so that no joint will come upon the crossing, thus keeping both road and track in better condition.
Safety turn at a railway crossing.
(f) The building of a right-hand turn along the railway track at each crossing on to which the motorist seeing that he could not pass ahead of the train or stop his car could drive. See the figure above.
(5) Drivers when they see a train approaching should make it a point to stop at least 100 feet away from the track. If a flying stop is made right near the track the engineman will be at a loss whether to apply the air for the train to stop or take a chance of hitting the vehicle. Enginemen will appreciate a little courtesy of this kind. Also it will be much easier to get a start to make the grade over the crossing if a longer distance is allowed.
(6) Markers indicating the approach to a railroad crossing placed 300 feet back will serve as a caution warning. A good many states are providing their highways with standard markers. In Illinois certain crossings are designated with a stop sign and it is a misdemeanor to go over without first coming to a full stop. In another state the law requires a stop at all crossings and a ditch, or “thank-you-ma’am” practically enforces the law.
(7) Automatic electrically driven gongs, bells, colored disks, waving arms, or red lights are expedients in quite common use.
(8) Crossing gates and watchmen are used where the traffic is heavy. They are expensive and railroads like to avoid them wherever possible. On Long Island it is said light gates were run down by the motorists. Very heavy gates are said to have proven more efficacious.
(9) Locomotives should be equipped with whistles and bells sufficiently penetrating to be easily heard by drivers of moving automobiles. Mr. Byron Clark, Chief Counsel of the Burlington railway west of the Missouri River, called the author’s attention to what he believes to be a fact, namely, that automobilists when traveling at a rapid gait do not hear the locomotive whistle which the state law and the railway rules require to be sounded before each crossing. Since my attention has been called to this matter I have watched it quite closely and believe Mr. Clark to be right. Frequently I hear the engine bell but not the whistle. It might be well to experiment with whistles and bells of various types. Is there a difference in the audibility of high-pitched and low-pitched whistles and bells?
(10) But no matter what mechanical devices there are, how carefully the enginemen obey the law about whistling, or how vigorously the watchman swings his signal, lack of care on the part of the driver will be productive of accidents. Before they can be avoided or even decreased materially it will be necessary for the people generally to come to a full understanding that they owe it to themselves, to the public and to the nation to be careful. Life and accident insurance is only a method of spreading the cost of loss due to death and accident over a larger number. The economic loss to the people as a whole is just as great whether there is or is not any insurance. An accident is always an economic waste. “A careful man is the best safety device known.”