Railroad Accidents, Their Cause and PreventionRichards, R. C. (Ralph Coffin)
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Railroad Accidents, Their Cause and Prevention
Richards, R. C. (Ralph Coffin)
Railroad accidents
It seems to me that if the instructions contained in Rule 19,
requiring the announcing of stations by brakemen, were complied with
and thereby passengers given ample notice of the approach of the train
to their destination, they would be prepared to get off instead of in
the present method, or, rather, lack of method, as the rule is so
seldom observed as to cause comment when it is complied with, and if,
before giving the signal to start, trainmen would get upon the car
platform and look into the cars to see that there was no one else to
get off, especially should this be done at night when passengers are
tired and sleepy, when platform lights are not any too numerous, and
with excursionists, and picnickers who are often none too sober and
who are not accustomed to moving quickly, and if at division terminals
trainmen would pay more attention to assisting passengers off instead
of being in such a hurry to cut off a car, getting their markers, or
getting away from the train, not only would such accidents as those
last enumerated be avoided, but the journey would be made much more
comfortable to passengers; and the road doing this would increase its
traffic. Deadheads, who mostly ride in Pullmans or private cars, do
not realize how annoying and exasperating to paying passengers is the
present method of trainmen, going into the cars and pretending to call
stations in some dead language, or by talking to themselves. In
transferring passengers from express to local trains trainmen must
bear in mind that the passenger is frequently unaccustomed to the
surroundings, is generally overanxious about getting off so as not to
miss connections, and coming from a lighted car out into the darkness,
in his hurry and excitement may not notice that the train is running;
in these cases the train is always moving so smoothly the passenger
thinks (or says he does) that it has stopped, and off he goes, and it
is necessary, to prevent such accidents occurring, to exercise the
greatest care, and by proper announcement make it plain to all such
passengers that ample time will be given them to alight, and that the
train they are to take cannot pull out until after your train does.
And when you are receiving passengers, especially on mixed or freight
trains, don't start until they have a chance to get seated, and then
such cases as the following won't occur:
Mrs. A. L. Bishop, passenger on freight train 91 from Milton to
Jessop, had gotten into caboose, but had not time to get seated
before train started with a jerk; she was thrown down and injured.
Mrs. Mary Hanson, passenger from Grant to Portsmouth, on train 15,
June 4th, 1:15 p.m. Before she had time to get to her seat, train
started, and she was thrown down and injured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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