CROSSING SMASHES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 27, 31 July 1936, Page 11

CROSSING SMASHES

WHY THEY OCCUR

DRIVERS JUST CARELESS

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. ''If Boad users would comply with the law, then in my opinion the majority of crossing accidents could be avoided." ' This is the view of the General Manager of Railways, Mr. G. H. Mackley, as expressed by him this morning. Crossing accidents, he said, were largely the result of carelessness, perhaps not deliberate, on the part of car and lorry drivers. It was the policy of the Department, and the policy of the Goyernment, to proceed with the elimination of railway crossings as speedily as possible, consistent always with the finances at their disposal. He hoped the time would come when all crossings would be protected, but he thought that a better sense of their responsibilities could be developed by those using the roads.

I Mr. Mackley said that recently he i and other officers of the Department had travelled a lot by rail car. With lh-2 excellent visibility afforded they had an opportunity to observe conditions at crossings, and almost every time they travelled they saw evidence of carelessness on the part of many motor vehicle drivers.