Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1917 — State Motor Club Secretary Tells How Most Accidents Occur. [ARTICLE]

State Motor Club Secretary Tells How Most Accidents Occur.

The Hoosier State Automobile Association lAges motorists to be more careful and to show more courtesy in their driving. It is the motorist away from home that causes most of the trouble. At a recent test oyer a bad crossing near Lafayette, 329 vehicles passed over the railroad tracks, 162 drivers did not look, either direction before going over the crossing and the other 153 merely looked pp and down the track just as they approached the track or were right on it. The regular warning signs are placed back fro mt-he crossings from 50 to 100 feet. Many of the motorists in passing over the crossing did so at a rate of 35 to 40 miles an hour. The state association in a letter sent out by the secretary says: “I have , been horrified by the* paper reports of the many uncalled for accidents caused by motorists driving .on railroad tracks without first assuring themselves of any near approaching trains. Whole families are wiped out. when it could have been avoided by the driver stepping long enough to be sure before going ahead. “With the ease that a motor can be stopped or started, if a man can not see at least a half mile each way he should stop and either walk to the track or send some one. If men have not enough of self love or respect for the lives of others, there should be a law passed to compel them to stop at railroad crossings and investigate as do the electric car conductors and motormen. It should be as much a crime to drive on a railroad track without first making sure, as to expose the lives of citizens under any other circumstances. A crusade should be started at once for all motorists to step before crossing railroad tracks. It would be the most human thing possible to achieve that habit among motorists.” £