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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 5 (September 1, 1927)

Safety Of Rail Travel

Safety Of Rail Travel.

The present keen contest for public support between two Auckland evening papers has resulted in great offers of free insurance to home-delivering readers of the respective publications. The dailies in question doubtless base their scale of benefits on actuarial advice, so a comparison of the extent of liability to accident from various causes which these insurances disclose is decidedly interesting. For instance, the highest benefit offered by the free insurance scheme of one paper is £1,000 in case of death from railway accident. The next highest insurance is £250 covering death by tram, ferry, or fire. Then comes £100 death benefit on account of cycle, motor cycle, or street accidents, whilst travel by motor car or bus appears to be too risky to carry any free life-insurance at all!

The scheme, whatever its effect in other respects, must be regarded as a first class advertisement for the railways, they being considered for safety purposes, better by 300 per cent. than the next safest mode of conveyance.

With 26 million passengers carried last year and no fatalities amongst them, there is sound reason behind the low risk estimate placed upon the New Zealand Railways in the above accident scale.