Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/849

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832
RAILWAYS
[ACCIDENT STATISTICS
Table XII.—Detail Causes of Certain Accidentscontinued.
1908. 1907.
Killed Injured Killed Injured
c. From falling off platforms upon the ballast 1 105 110
d. By other accidents 1 246 265
Total of passengers 5 863 5 836
Servants:—
1. While loading, unloading or sheeting wagons, trucks and horseboxes 8 4,018 5 2,899
2. While moving goods and luggage in stations or sheds 2 1,992 2 975
3. While working at cranes or capstans 3 411 8 304
4. By the falling of wagon-doors, lamps, bales of goods, &c. 1 583 390
5. While attending to engines at rest 4 2,479 4 2,363
6. From falling off, or when getting on or off, engines or vehicles at rest 3 1,504 2 1,495
7. From falling off, or when getting on or off, platforms 1 483 2 404
8. From falling off ladders, scaffolds, &c. 11 449 11 400
9. By stumbling while walking on the line 2 1,068 1 1,049
10. By being trampled on or kicked by horses while engaged in railway work 1 94 71
11. From being struck by articles thrown from passing trains 7 6
12. From the falling of rails, sleepers, &c., when at work on the line 686 1 611
13. Otherwise injured when at work on the line or in sidings 5 2,182 5 1,981
14. Miscellaneous 9 3,085 14 2,753
Total of servants 50 19,041 55 15,701
Table XIII.—Nature of Accidents to Trains, Vehicles and Pemanent-Way
(A) Accidents to trains:- 1908.
United
Kingdom
1907.
United
Kingdom
1. Collisions between passenger trains or parts of passenger trains 43 48
2. Collisions between passenger trains and goods or mineral trains or light-engines 78 70
3. Collisions between goods trains or parts of goods trains and light-engines 180 216
4. Collisions between trains and vehicles standing foul of the line 7 22
5. Collisions between trains and buffer-stops or vehicles standing against buffers stops:-
(a) From trains running into stations or sidings at too high a speed 20 17
(b) From other causes 15 25
6. Trains coming in contact with projections from other trains or vehicles on parallel lines 30 7
7. Passenger trains or parts of passenger trains leaving the rails 94 106
8. Goods trains or parts of goods trains, light engines, &c., leaving the rails 407 483
9. Trains running through gates at level crossings or into other obstacles 368 364
10. Fires in trains 195 170
11. Miscellaneous 3 4
(B) Accidents to or failure of rolling stock and permanent-way:-
12. Bursting of boilers or tubes, &c., of engines 7 13
13. Failure of machinery, springs, &c., of engines 61 86
14. Failure of tires 125 172
15. wheels 2 8
16. axles 165 160
17. couplings 2,346 2,440
18. ropes used in working inclines
19. tunnels, bridges, viaducts, culverts, &c. 3
20. Broken rails 287 289
21. Flooding of portions of permanent-way 24 40
22. Slips in cuttings or embankments 18 28
23. Fires at stations or involving injury to bridges or viaducts 30 22
24. Miscellaneous 1

Percentages.—On British railways the casualties from train accidents, especially fatal injuries, have been reduced to so small a proportion of the number of passengers travelling, or the number of servants employed, that the figures showing the percentages vary from year to year considerably; but in other classes of accidents, In which a large proportion of the cases may be classed as unpreventable, the percentages do not vary greatly. The following are the more significant ratios in the year 1907, as shown in the Board of Trade returns:—

(a) Passengers killed in train accidents, approximately 1 in 83,000,000
(1908, 0 in 1,500,000,000)
(b) Passengers injured in train accidents, approximately 1 in  3,000,000
(1908, approximately 1 in 6,000,000.)
(c) Servants killed in train accidents:—
Number of servants killed per 10,000,000 train miles 0·329
Engine drivers, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 5,628
Firemen, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 12,857
Passenger guards, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 4,237
Goods guards and brakemen, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 8,438
(d) Servants killed in work about trains, &c. (excluding train accidents), ratio killed to number employed 1 in 790
Goods guards and brakemen, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 409
Shunters, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 337
Engine drivers, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 1,126
Passenger guards, ratio killed to number employed 1 in 1,059

Railway Accidents in America.—The statistics of accidents in America are kept in a form somewhat different from the foregoing. Table XIV. is taken from the Accident Bulletin of the Interstate Commerce Commission (No. 32), the items being numbered to correspond as nearly as practicable with the numbers in the British table (No. X.). The items 7–8 embrace the statistics which most nearly correspond to the items 7–12 in the British table.

Table XIV.—Casualties on the Railways of the United States of America
Year ending June 30.
1909. 1908.
Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured.
Passengers:
1. In train accidents 131 5,865 165 7,430
2, 3. Other causes 204 6,251 241 5,215
Total of passengers 335 12,116 406 12,645
Servants:—
4. In train accidents 520 4,877 642 6,818
5, 6. Other causes 1,936 46,927 2,716 49,526
Total of servants 2,456 51,804 3,358 56,344
Year ending June 30, 1907.
Trespassing. Not Trespassing. Total.
Other Persons: Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured.
7. In train accidents 97 171 52 1202 149 1373
8. Struck by trains at highway crossings 237 274 696 1523 933 1797
Do. at stations 421 423 89 259 510 682
Do. at other places 3732 2063 113 200 3845 2263
Other causes 1125 2581 94 1287 1219 3868
Total of “other persons” 5612 5512 1044 4471 6656 9983

The salient feature of Table XIV. is the diminution from 1908 to 1909. This is mainly due to a great falling off in traffic, because of a general business depression; from 1907 to 1909 the reduction in the accident record is still greater. In items 1 and 4 the increase in safety is due in part, no doubt, to the extension of the use of the block system. The accidents to “other persons” cannot readily be compared with items 7–12 in the British record, except as to the totals and a few of the items.

In any comparison between British and American records the first point to be borne in mind is the difference in mileage and traffic. The American railways aggregate approximately ten times the length of the British lines; but in train miles the difference is far less. In the latest years in which comparisons can be made, the passenger journeys in the United Kingdom amounted to 1500 millions (including season-ticket holders, estimated) and the train miles to 428·3 millions, while the corresponding figures in the United States were 873·9 millions and 1171·9 millions. The average length