The Te Puke Times FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 THE DANGERS OF LEVEL CROSSINGS.

Te Puke Times, Volume II, Issue II, 5 September 1913, Page 2

The Te Puke Times FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 THE DANGERS OF LEVEL CROSSINGS.

Accidents, as often as not attended by fatal results, have became of such painful frequency at railway crossings throughout the Dominion, that a general demand has been raised that the authorities should, by some means or other, endeavor to minimise the danger to human life. The matter was brought up in the House recently, and the Hon. Mr Hemes, Minister for Railways, in reply, stated that to put bridges or subways at level crosssings would "cost too much ; it would involve something like two millions. He was obtaining reports from his officers regarding dangerous crossings, and hoped, to instal alarm bells,' and to arrange with local bodies on a pound for pound basis, to erect disc danger signs at a distance from crossings. It is gratifying to , see that the Government is alive to the urgent necessity of devising some method whereby travellers who may have to pass over these crossings may not run the risk of having their, lives incontinently cut short. A report as to the appliances in use in other and more thickly populated countries for warning pedestrians, motorists, and others of approaching trains, should certainly be procured by the railway authorities, who may otherwise find themselves defending numerous claims for heavy damages.