DEATH ROLL INCREASED.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 19, 17 October 1907, Page 7

DEATH ROLL INCREASED.

EVIDENCE OF RECKLESSNESS. MORE-THAN, HALF THE PASSENGERS ... INJURED. ■ ■, (Reo. Oct. 16, 11.56 p.m.) * • ' London, October 16.' • fho ■ casualty list • of tho Shrewsbury ac'citent is now placed at:— ' ! : Killed ... ... ... ... 19 . Injured, ... ... ... 40 : Many of tho latter are severely injured. Fifteen coaches wero completely destroyed. .The state that, tho .train was going, at , fifty milos an hour at tho time, of the'accident; disregarding soveral danger signals, as well as tho injunction to approach curves-at a speed not exceeding ten miles an hour. ' . The vacuum brake had been applied, apparently "by. .the^dnver,''but'lfi'was'applied too late, jj;'] ' V .. /',• i • There were one hundred passengers on the train. ;' v \ i : ! " The ; Board .of iTrade's annual Report on Railway Accidents (says the "Manchester Guardian") shows that in 190 C more passengers -were, killed than' in any'year since 1889, but, even so, only. 58 were killed, and 56 of them in three , big accidents-. On the other hand, 1111, railway- servants i were killed—only 13 >of them-in/.train accidents,, the great bulk,.of course,''occurringx in shunting and handling gdods traffic.- The total casualties'-to railway sorvnnts worked out "at about one in every 71 of all'the'persons exposed to danger—an un-. pleasantly increased rate. • . .. . Mirny people perhaps do;not realise how extremely safe it is to be'a railway passen'geri or how extremely dangerous,it is •to be, a railway, sorvant, but there are some grounds for thinking that new risks are developing : both for servants andpas : Bengers which . are, not being quite .fully met.. . Major Pringlb's report- on the Salisbury accident "attributed it, not 'obscurely, to' an 'attempt-to run trains at the very high speeds demanded to-day on lines retaining many of the curves and gradients which did duty for the low speeds'' of years ago. - This is a danger which -there. is treason to. think that, the companies are making great.efforts to remove, but romoval is slow and costly, and the temp-tation.-.to run certain i'isks in the' interval rather ithan dose .the patronage of: passengers is obvious.'.', ...... Yet . train accidents, in Great Britain bear absolutely no comparison with those in the •United States. , Our American correspondent:, writes conwrning a recent smash' which killed 39 and-wounded many moreWe have grown bo used to disasters -that oven this'one moved us little.:. We .have learned to expect them about so often, and are thankful if we are not among the dead or miss inc. It js a fact brought out in ithe Accident Bulletin No. 22, issued by the Inter-State. Commerce Commission, that in three months there wero killed or injnred by the United States railroads 20,94-1 passengers -and,employees. The, total number of railroad collisions was 2226; the number of trains Ming off the track was 1739. This three months :record- is the worst 'in' the historv of tne country. Railroading extraordinary l What are we' coming to? What wonder the'peopleare • demanding a share in tho regulation and management -and- ownership of railroads."