CHAPTER XXVI

WHERE EXTRA CAUTION IS NECESSARY

It would seem unnecessary to give caution to the motorist where there is an element of safety involved; it ought to be understood that everyone entrusted with the wheel of a motor car would be interested in his personal safety and in the safety of those in his keeping, and that he would take all ordinary and even extraordinary precautions to keep skin unscratched and bones unbroken and existence preserved. But it is a fact that for a large proportion of motorists there is no such word as “Danger,” and no such word as “Care.” Why is it?

For some reason there is abroad the spirit of “take a chance,” and it has entirely superseded the cautious foresight which was once the American nature. Perhaps it is the changed conditions of our land which is responsible for this. In pioneer days caution was necessary, for one did not know behind what tree or rock lurked death in the form of a savage, and there were wild animals to avoid in the forests, and even along traveled highways; so that to look ahead, to watch for signs of danger, and to approach points of peril with every sense alert, was second nature.

Boys who were brought up to tramp the woods or prairies were alert also, because of hiding snakes and prowling wolves, and because of the need for keeping track of distances and locations to prevent being lost. We are only a generation or two from these things even at the crowded centers of population; but the last two generations which have grown up in the city, and millions who have come from other lands in the same period have not this inbred caution. Men who are in peril daily from one cause and another incident to city life, and “nothing happens,” cannot be expected to get excited about possibilities, which in time become so familiar as to breed contempt.

The man who is in constant fear lest something fall from a tall building upon him, or there be an explosion from beneath, or a crash of trolley, subway, or elevated cars, with a generous complement of fire and flood and gale added, would go crazed if he thought much on these things. Therefore it is hard to get him to think of “safety first.” It is rather “I should worry,” and it actually prolongs life, so long as it is applied to familiar things—it keeps nerve systems from breaking.

This is why it is so hard to get the city driver accustomed to caution in places of real peril. One of the worst of these is driving over railway tracks. Out on the Huckleberry division, where there is but one train a day each way if luck favors the intending passengers, there is not so much danger; but in the vicinity of all the large cities where suburban trains run often and through trains are numerous, it behooves the autoist to acquire speedily a belief in signs. The usual sign at a railroad crossing is a post with two arms in the form of an X to warn highway travelers. It matters not that there is a flagman or gates, a due sense of caution is necessary for the driver of an auto.

The railway near the writer’s old home had signs reading: “Stop, Look, Listen”; and this should be the slogan of the driver nearing a railway crossing today. In spite of the ringing of engine bells and blowing of locomotive whistles and of other precautions of the railway company, it is incumbent upon the motorist to be careful, to know that there is no train approaching. An automobile may be stopped within a few feet and the train sometimes takes a quarter of a mile for a stop; therefore the motorist should not trust to the stopping of the locomotive, for by that time it might be everlastingly too late. Better stop the auto at every crossing if the noise of the motor prevents hearing whistle or bell signals from the train.

But there is a worse dereliction than failing to make sure that a train is not at hand, and that is the devil-may-care spirit which prompts driver to spurt up the engine and dash for the crossing to get over ahead of the train that is in plain sight. There are few persons who can estimate the speed of a railway train with any degree of accuracy, even the railway employes having to check the time between known points to estimate the speed, unless there is a speedometer. The autoist, looking at a coming train, sees it at an angle which prevents his comparing it with fixed objects and cannot tell if it is running ten or sixty miles an hour as a rule.

It does not do any good to talk about rights and failure to hear a warning after the final ceremonies are over and the cemetery has another monument, and the writer would much prefer to be a live snail than a dead hare, and would agree to make his destination first, as well. Neither will it do to talk about the fool-killer and his good work; sometimes others than the foolish driver are imperiled and suffer. There is only one way to regard it and that is to resolve to observe the ordinary rules of caution and to make sure that one is not trying to occupy the same space as a railway train at the same time. The train has might, if not right, you know.

Equally important are the crossings of trolley lines, in these days of high-speed trains and cars, and quite as many accidents occur at street intersections where two main lines of travel cross, even though there be no trolley lines. It takes so little effort and so little loss of time to slow down until one can see the way clear, when there is no traffic man at the crossing.

But if one needs be careful of his own hide, it is quite as important that he be careful of the other fellow’s anatomy. It is easy to say of the pedestrian, or the man in another vehicle, let him keep out of the way, or keep to his own side of the road; well, if he don’t, you can keep out of his way and you will be a great deal happier at the end of your trip than if you disregard him and there is an accident. One hardly likes to contemplate even an unavoidable injury to another.

It must be remembered, also, that the pedestrian has rights upon the highway greater than the auto driver. It is popular to talk about the “jay-hawker” and to assume that the man on foot has few rights in the road, whereas he has the first right, according to the United States Supreme Court, and no amount of traffic rules and ordinances and laws can affect his right. Without respect to the wisdom of his doing it, the man afoot has the right to travel in the middle of the road if he cares to, and it is the duty of the driver to keep out of his way. Remembrance of this may save the driver damages in large amount, for the courts will assess the careless driver, or the careful driver for that matter, if the pedestrian is hurt and asks damages.