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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 10 (February 1, 1934)

The Safety of Rail Travel

The Safety of Rail Travel.

A poster issued by the German Railways shows a man whose hair and beard have grown over the whole floor of the compartment in which he is sitting. An accident insurance policy lies beside him, and an inscription reads: “He wanted to be killed in a railway accident. He will have to travel at 62.5 m.p.h. for 22,800 years to accomplish his purpose.” That is how the Berlin authorities impress upon the travelling public the safety of rail movement. Throughout Europe the greatest attention is paid to ensuring travel safety, and in most European lands the risk of mishap while travelling by rail is slight in the extreme.

An analysis of the official report on railway accidents in Britain during 1932 discloses remarkable results, while in 1933—for which official figures are not available at time of writing—the position in respect of freedom from serious accidents is equally satisfactory. Four passengers lost their lives in train accidents in 1932, and the death risk for passengers worked out at one in 389,000,000. How different is this record from that of casualties on the roads! Taking all in all, there is probably no country in the world where such vast thought and expense has been incurred to ensure the safety of the traveller. The most elaborate equipment and the most carefully devised operating methods, however, would be of little avail if the individual railwayman permitted carelessness and indifference to creep into his daily task. Britain's striking freedom from serious rail mishaps is in no small degree attributable to the wholehearted devotion of one and all to that wisest of gospels: “Safety First.”