The Level Crossing Problem in Canada

An official notice entitled “Dangerous practices of motorists, drivers of other vehicles and of pedestrians, at railway crossings,” has been issued by the Railway Commission of Canada, giving to the public a mass of data gathered from the records of the railroad companies, showing the circumstances of several hundred cases of carelessness at highway crossings, during the last 12 months, including not only those which resulted in death or injury, but evidently all which were of such a character as to be useful in conveying a lesson. This information is in the shape of tables, filling 15 pages, giving date, location and brief description, in each case of the dangerous practice; with a column added to show, in the case of automobiles, the license number by which the car or its owner was, or could be, identified. The only comment is a brief introduction to the effect that motor accidents are increasing in frequency, and expressing the hope that the newspapers will join the Board in educating motor drivers and others. “If accidents are to be lessened, the sane motorists must educate the culpably negligent motorists.” From the records of the Canadian National, 124 cases are given. A table of equal or greater length is given from the Canadian Pacific. Most of the cases are those of drivers who persisted in driving upon a crossing in spite of warnings, and often breaking through gates. Tables are given also showing the numbers of pedestrians and bicycles passing over crossings while the gates were closed.