Here it will be observed freight trains were involved in 86.6% of the prominent collisions of the year and shared in responsibility for 79.3% of the fatalities. The proportion of injured in accidents to freight trains is not so great for the obvious reason that the number of persons exposed in collisions involving only freight trains is generally limited to train crews.
Causes of Train Accidents.
An examination of the causes given for the prominent collisions and derailments in the Accident Bulletins of the Commission since the passage of the Act of March 3, 1901, requiring the railway companies to make full monthly reports of all accidents affords the following general statement:
| Cause | Number of Accidents |
| Negligence, error or forgetfulness of some member of train crew | 241 |
| Recklessness, carelessness, overlooking or disregarding orders or taking chances | 233 |
| Disobedience | 53 |
| Incompetence or inexperience | 20 |
| Defect of equipment, tires, wheels, etc. | 64 |
| Defect of roadway | 24 |
| Malicious acts | 27 |
| Misadventure, washouts, landslides, cyclones, etc. | 91 |
| Undiscovered | 41 |
| Total | 794 |
Among the prominent derailments charged against the railways in the Bulletin for April, May and June, 1909, is the following, resulting in one killed and three injured.
"Automobile running on track, derailed by running over a dog, one guest killed."
Through the inclusion in these Bulletins of accidents on trolley lines, their value as records of railway accidents is being greatly impaired. Without any information as to the number of passengers carried by the electric cars it is impossible to arrive at an accurate idea of the relation of accidents to traffic, and without this the mere record of accidents has little information value.
Accidents on British Railways.
For a second time in their history, in the year ending December 31, 1908, British railways went through a twelvemonth without killing a single passenger in a train accident, thus paralleling their record of 1901 in this respect. In the matter of passengers injured, the year 1908 showed a remarkable improvement, not only over 1901 but over any other year in the history of British railways. When it comes to the totals of casualties, however, 1908 shows little variation from the average record.