44 2 History of Inland Transport 



as though he were still undergoing the strain of driving the 

 engine instead of being occupied, perhaps, in smoking his pipe, 

 or having a doze. 



Following on protests by the railway companies, the returns 

 are now published in a form less open to criticism, while the 

 agitation raised has also led the companies to make further 

 efforts to prevent the occurrence of excessive hours of labour 

 as far as possible. The return for May, 1911, dealing 

 with 109,041 servants in certain grades (guards, brakesmen, 

 enginemen, signalmen, examiners), who worked during that 

 month a total of 2,740,693 days, shows that the number of 

 days on which the men were on duty for periods exceeding 

 twelve hours by one hour and upwards amounted to 14,813, or 

 only -54 per cent of the total days worked. 



One of the greatest drawbacks in the railway service lies in 

 the risks of accident. The extent of these risks is shown by 

 the General Report of the Board of Trade on Accidents on 

 Railways of the United Kingdom during 1910. 



From this I find that the number of railway servants killed 

 in " train accidents " in 1910 was nine, and the number injured 

 was 113. Of these, eight were killed and 109 were injured 

 in the work of running trains ; and the proportions of these 

 last-mentioned figures to the total number (76,327) of engine- 

 drivers, firemen and guards employed on December 31, 1910, 

 were : killed, one in 9541 ; injured, one in 700. Considering 

 that the number of miles run by trains on the railways of the 

 United Kingdom in 1910 was 423,221,000, the figures given 

 as to injuries or fatalities to railway servants through actual 

 train accidents do not constitute a bad record. They suggest, 

 rather, both the extreme care with which the railway servants 

 concerned discharge their duty and the effectiveness of the 

 precautions taken in the interests of themselves as well as of 

 the travelling public. 



Excluding train accidents, the numbers of accidents to 

 railway servants due to the " movement of trains and railway 

 vehicles " in the same year were : killed, 368 ; injured 4587. 

 The number of railway servants exposed to danger from the 

 movement of railway vehicles being 331,296, the proportion 

 of accidents to number employed was : killed, one in 900 ; 

 injured, one in 72. 



When these last-mentioned figures in regard to injured are 



