SAFETY CAMPAIGN

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12620, 3 December 1926, Page 7

SAFETY CAMPAIGN

LEVEL CROSSINGS’ DANGER RAILWAY DEPARTMENT PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN BENEFICIAL RESULTS The campaign which has been conducted by the Railway Department during recent months in the interest ot' public safety at level crossings is one which was calculated to have a beneficial effect both on the attitude of the public towards this problem and the psychology of the drivers of roadusing vehicles. Prior to the inauguration of the campaign there had been a considerable amount of criticism levelled at the Railway Department on account of a rather alarming series of level crossing accidents, some of the critics holding that as the damage was done by the railway it should oxorciSo more care and thus avoid the accidents. SIMPLEST AND SAFEST! The result, however, of a thorough investigation of the position, and publicity given to the matter by and on behalf of the railway, has been to clarify public opinion on the subject so that now it is everywhere recognised, first that the rnilwny is entitled to the right of way at level crossings on account of the superior importance of trains to individual vehicles, and sec-

ondly, that it is much simpler for a road-using vehicle to pull up than for a train weighing anything up to 800 tons. The other feature which has. been brought into prominence is the impracticability, from a financial standpoint, of eliminating all level crossings; the Railway Department's attitude in regard to this is now thoroughly understood. It is co-operating with the main.highways in the matter of securing the eliminating of the crossings which have been decided upon as dealing with the greatest amount of t-affic or being in other respects most in need of attention in this way. CITY AREAS Where elimination is not., included in the programme about city areas, croSing-keepers are provided to protect the road-using public. At other busy crossings, wig-wag signals, which give both audible and visible warning to the road-users, have been installed; while all other crossings are protected by two fixed warnings, the “orossed Aims” at some'distance from the crossing, and the “stop notice” at the crossing itself. Despite all these due warnings of the existence of every crossing, careless drivers of road-using vehicles were being caught in sufficient numbers to create general apprehension. It was doubtless a realisation of the educative benefits of wide publicity that induced the railway administration to. undertake its present publicity campaign. This has taken the form of the distribution of .large coloured posters to the proprietors of roadrusing vehicles through the automobile associations of the Dominion, and the individual distribution of stickers to the holders of all motor licenses. PUBLIC IMPRESSED The third method adopted has been that of an intensive advertising campaign in the principal newspapers of toe Dominion, where, by -means of graphic representations of the danger and the publication of safety slogans, the public at large has been impressed with the need for seeing that every reasonable precaution is taken by roadusers before attempting to negotiate railway level crossings. Tho results achieved so far are in themselves sufficiently conclusive proof that the campaign was well advised, for the figures in relation to level crossing accidents based on the last 12 months in comparison with the previous year show a reduction of 33 per cent, in the gross number of accidents of all kinds at level crossings, and a similar proportionate reduction in the number of fatalities. The present campaign would thus appear to have been the most practical step in connection with the level crossing problem that could have been undertaken.