Local archivist and historian Dennis Lamont sent me this great vintage safety advertisement. It's sort of an earlier version of the Grim Reaper-themed ad that I posted yesterday.
In the illustration, Death beckons the driver of a car (with Ohio license plates) to carelessly cross the tracks while an interurban approaches.
As Dennis, one of the authors of the Arcadia Publishing book Lake Shore Electric Railway ( a terrific book, by the way) pointed out to me, note that there are no crossing gates or flashing safety lights. I guess that's why there were so many terrible accidents involving interurbans in the early days of motoring. Fortunately undercuts became a priority to eliminate some of the more dangerous crossings.
Death seems to be especially diabolical in this case, flagging the car forward – while the occupants of the car don't seem to be speeding or doing anything reckless. I guess that's the message: Death is always lurking about if you aren't careful!
Here's hoping that you have a safe and happy July Fourth!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment