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EE i xd == HE OSHAWA DALY TIMES, SATURDAY, x; ocTomen | 1927" F ACT S AND FIGURES OF TRAFFIC AND DELAYS AT LEVEL CROSSING SHOWN Over 13,000 Vehicles Crossed | Simcoe Sout'; Intersection 'During Week of The Osh- 'awa Daily. Times' Check- 'up, With Over One Out of Ten Subject to Necessary "Delay Adjoining columns present Osha- wa citizens with tables of statistics reparding the Canadian National Railways level crossing at Simcoe Street South. These figures tell their own story, A summary of the seven days check up of traffic over the C N.R. tracks and necessary de- lays is also given. From these fig- urgs, the first of their kind ever published in Oshawa, citizens are invited to draw their conclusions Bearing in mind that The Oshawa Dally, Times'. check-up covered only one week and that one the last in September, sometime after the sum- mer season ;traffic had returned to autumn "proportions. The check-up began at 6 a.m., Sat- urday September 24, It closed at 11 p.m. yesterday, Friday, Septem- ber 30. Each day of that week saw a member of The Times staff on du- ty at the crossing during the hours from 6 a.m, to 11 p.m.--seventeen hours each day. The observers work- ed on a relief system, Four hours on duty at the crossing until re. placed hv the next ohserver, The check-up covered the follow- ing points: The number of motor cars crossing the teacks; the nun- ber of trrins." which included the shunting of freight cars necessitat. ing the lowering of gates. Shunting of this nature frequently held up traffic from 15 to 30 minutes in a single hour during the busiest p-rt of the dav as the statistical colum~s show. The number of automobil s held vn at the crossing is shown: the length of time the gates we ©» down -each hour and the total for each day as well as the week is stat- ed; a count was wlso made of the Oshawa Railway street cars crossing the tracks end the times such were held up as well as the time lost. Awmnzine Riruves. fifififififi hnnfi ep zp sff-nz Results obtained ace calculated to amaze citizens who, while objecting to the level crossing on general grounds, have hitherto not heen able to support their ohjections by other than isolated instances of delay and, in some. cases; danger. The C.N.R, as shown further. in the report, takes every possible pre- caution against endangering the public. Whilé its gatemen can and do control automobile traffic in the interests of public safety, therehy setting an example in service. which is loyal both to the corporation they serve and the city # Targe, gatemen cannot control other classes of chance takers. Pedestrians, cyclists, even women with infants in baby carriages do not hesitate, on oc- casion, to ignore the warning of the closed gates and to cross in front of trains just on the act of depart- ure. On some days over 2,000 automo- biles have crossed the railway tracks, and between 12 and 1 p.m. each day nearly 200 cross in a single hour. This is nerhaps one of the worst features of the present system, for practically every one of the occu- pants of these cars is on his way to and from lunch. A perusal of the figures will show that while this is one of the busiest hours for mot- or traffic, it seems also to be one' of the busiest periods on the rail- way. For instance, on* Wednesday, Sep- tember 28th. the gates were closed for 29% minutes, causing a delay to exactly 100 motor cars. This, too, at a time when every minute of the workman's time counts. It means that Oshawa citizens living south of the C. N. R. are forced to take a hasty lunch, and rush back to work, or else pay the penalty of being late for their afternoon la- bours. It will be seen that a similar delay occurs practically every day in the week. A peculiar feature of this phase of the report is that on Saturday and Sunday there is prac- tically no delay worth mentioning, and yet these are the only two days of the week when delays would not interfere to such an appreciable ex- tent with the activities of our citi- zens, Vizilant Watchmen Another interesting point is that in every case the number of times the gates were closed exceeds the number of trains crossing the street, The explanation is that the gate- men at the crossing are doing all they can to expedite the automo- bile traffic. It shows that they are being both cautious and courteous. Observation showed that the rule is to lower the gates whenever a train whistles for the crossing, which, of course, i8 practice that no one will quarrel! with! As practically all trains stop at the station, this means that the gates a.¢ lowered and raised twice for every train from the east, for as soon as an eastern train has come to a standstill the gates are raised to permit the accumulated traffic to cruss, and are lowered as soon as ac engineer gives the signal that he is ready to proceed. ihe principal delays, however, occur in connection with the move- ment of freight. For the switching of freight cars to various sidetracks it is necessary for the engine to cross and recrdss the street time after time. Considerably over half of the figures u fr "Number of trains crossing" are accounted for by per- haps one freight engine and'a few cars passing from east to west, and from west to east, at the crossing, shunting freight cars from one track to another, During the course of these operations the gatemen raise the gates as often as possible with reasonable assurance of safety to the waiting traffic, but it is not urt- | common for the gates to remain' closed for over five minutes, and often longer. Examination of the column show- ing the length of time the gates were closed shows that over 16 hours have been lost to Oshawa citi- zens during the last week, and a great proportion of this lost time was at periods when every minute was precious. That there might be other ocea- sions when every minute might in- deol be precious was forcibly brought to the attention of one of the observers who was on guty be- tween 10 and 11 last Monday night. At about 10.30 a false alarm was turned in at Cedardale, and most of the Oshawa fire-fighting equipment "WANTED him to take out 8 $50.00 Mutu Monthly Income he his wife. He 4 Scotland with his wif LL 81200 the $7.00 Ordinary Lif. Poly be 8 pistol and sock 3. trip to Bis wld home ia he died af to nas, suddenly just : the boat was entering the x His Insurance money is now reduced to $2400 earning interest of $120 a year, His widow is, at present, holding the position of a housekeeper, but, . Gay she scan the pape in hope of cig some thing sao 27 20% wk Motul Represent rnd Income Policy? Or write direct to M LIFE Jawgks FRANK V. EVANS Representative Standard Bank Buildings, Ni ---- -- dashed aown' Simvoe Htreet - throttles wide open. Fortunately the gates were up and no time was lost at the crossing. This little flurry caused an increase of 43 cars in the traffic, which is usually very quiet at that time in the even suing. 1t_hay- pened to be merely a false alarm, but suppose it hd been n a real fire-- suppose the gates had been down, and there had been a delay of ten of or even five minutes! A great deal may happen to a burning "house in tive minutes! It might quite con- celvably make between a small fire and a conflag- Yatdn. he Jepulation ,of South awa continu increasing, many homes are being built, and the tiresrlsk is increasing in proportion. What comfort have the citizens of in the time of their greatest n the Potential saviours of their hor sof their lives may be stalled beh d a slow-moving train of per- :75 or 80 heavy cars of freight? Surly, this alone fs sufficient to proyp the absolute necessity of the abolishing of this relic of by-gone days, the level crossing! . Taking Chances . That there 0. never been a ser- fous accident at the crossing speaks volumes for the men who have charge of the gates. Théy are ever on the watch, ever careful, and they de all in their power to lesson the inevitable delays which must and do occur. Impatient motorists may "honk" at them as they will, but the gates are not raised until all possible danger to traffic is re- moved. This, however, does not ap- ply to pedestrians, who can cross almgst unimpeded even when the gates are down. There is no means of stopping them, and the observers have noticed many of them crossing right in front of oncoming trains, sometimes passing round the rear of one almost in the path of one coming from the other direction. And not only pedestrians, but wo- on i ¥hooune baby-carriages, seem n" to "take a chance" rest of them, With the NMiny voun~ Fova on bieye'ss, al- 80. take a keen delight in dod~in~ around the corner and munder the "ates in the face of oncoming trains, when a single slip, o- a tire catching in the rfls weonld mean almost certain . death. - That none of them have come to grief for the foolhardiness must be p'a- ced to the -red't of Providence ra- ther- than to "00a sense on thelr part. Poys will he hoys, as the o'd 1dage Pas it ond they, ton love to ide chances. Pit the ev. ero-s: Ing presents a 1a 'ptatjon to tke chances which are all too risky, and which may, at any hour, be the 'ase of a tragedy which would never have happened had it not been for the menace of the level crossing The figure: shown in the tabu- iated statement, large as they are, would have been much larger, had the census been taken during the summer months. Summer figures, especially for the evening tratfic, would doubtless show an increase of several hundred automobiles oy- er those here presented, and the number of cars delayed at the crossing would obviously be in- creased in proportion. There is therefore, no possibility that the dase In favour fof the subway is being exaggerated or over esti- mated, but rather to the contrary. The fact that the railway station is placed on the south side of the tracks only serves to aggravate the problem. In order to reach the sta- tion one / must first cross the tracks, and it is not only possible but. probable that if an. iniending traveller arrives only a minute or 50 before the train leaves, he. may find himself held up at the cross- ing, and unable to catch his train, Observers have commented upon the fact that not a few auiomobiles laden with trunks and baggage have been held up at the gates, und have dashed into th® station yard with all possible speed, giviyg the passengersionly just the bafe fraction of a minute to board the train. COLLEGIATE CHATTER '(Continued from Page Nine). -, ing. All clippings from the news. papers taken in the homes dealing with current events, science 'and discovery, history, art, literature and sport, are welcomed. . * . istry class: "Now, then, class, what color is this Joy .Tphure" With the Collegiate field doy over, thoughts*now turn to the in- ter school meet between Bowman- ville, Oshawa and Whitby, which is to be held Friday morning and af- ternoon, next week, That Oshawa stands in good stead to carry off the tt Trophy seems assuréd but it is also a readily recoghized fact that the stiffest opposition in years will be put up by Whitby High School, at least, while there is no telling what the dark horse, Bow- manville, might come through with. * * LJ Students and teachers alike, as well as his many friends outside the school, will be pleased to hear that Maurice Hutchinson in. fifth form, who underwent an operation for appendicitis early Monday morn- ing, is doing very nicely at present having passed the. danger of what might have been a most serious attack of pleurisy. He passed the all the difference that section in the knowledge that |P. 2-3 3-4. 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 89 9-10 10-11 TOTAL AM. 6-7 7-8 89 9-10 10-11 11-12 12: 1 P.M. Y-2 23 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9:10 10-11 TOTAL TOTAL AM. 6- 7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10:11 11-12 P.M. 12- 1 1- 2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 1C-11 TOTAL Mr. Brown, in third form Chem. | Tr PP ean OTN Ua WN TOTAL AM. 6-7 7-8 89 9-10 10-11 11-12 P.M, 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10-11 2m am 108 81 1953 1,621 danger zone on Thursday and si ---- ; NSE PS TAL 5077 SREERTESITN sremsy No. of St, Cars * i zl g al wns rbwacos awasw] | NBER LANNE W 'ORAL | | ~ oo LWRNAAANLILROW WWW 3 savontununl. novo w ~ © =| BELLONA W WOOLEN Crossing CRE RANDANESL MO his OD ~ wt | MLA LWORANNG . WRWNnNS No. of Trains Bl nnocan=aotn nwmmons Crossing x SUNG OENE SOO el wn 8 snmnnnm un Sowa LNN SNC mam Nh © 00 WN == » «w Slmavunonwennd cmunam-- &| SNES Cm NON, trun ..No. of Times 2 The C. N. R: ed By Te Ql ut' for 1 pm. Friday, September 30. E the 3 3 : 2 sii J 5 : 4 7 4, ar 4 1 $5 - 0 A ; ide 2 To $1 " i i i =Y 4 ? od 5 OH He 1 BH PRE ; 2 yeh SE » H 2 3 irs Bak 1 2 = 1 i 4. : 0 3 1,4, ig -9 3 Ly Sy ; 8 1 7 2 hrs. 58 mins. 3 ! En . ¥% u J SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1927 2 I 3 6 1, ow 0,0, 1 a = 4 %, : I 4 - 3 3° LAE Hr --- 8 1% ' 7 i i 12 i wh, 5 Go %, 19, 1%, TH, J, ROT R Au 1, : $ 2 1 n -' 5 Le ~ 3 le - 2 9 1 3 1, ~ 3 2 - 6 4 3 2 y - 3 ; v 4 SB -- --- Pl . -- 6 3 ) : # MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1927 5 $- 31 4 1, o* 217 CARER TI BRL Da 2 1 Rad ie Gil - 1 LF NTA Tr L-- 3 BK 1 Wi... - 2 We rn - 3 LLL Li. -- 9 1m 2 3 1 1%. 3. 2%, 5 % 818.0, 1,13 7.5 M3 ...... er 18 1 0 2.131 L 5.4 %, 1 4 352200 4 2.804%. 05. oe 1 5 hy % 1 1% Fev hn emais s ME BY Ee ROE 15 2 i Cs 2 gine 2 - 2 WL NY NRA al 2 iE a To hb - 2 1% 2, 0 2 Hea 0 NO... EE gf. 3 jp % i Ra A = 0 la NERS RE Sa al a 52 FAA TE. 7 : y ol ® 3 4 45 3 1 8 2 13 16 1 5 4 2 if 30 = 14 Bo 14, 34, 14. 55,1, 2, Yo 20% 2 53 3925201838 00876 Ge :t 5 105, 19 14... 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