Slavishak: History of Rural Track Crossing Habits

In Collision Course: Rural Track Crossing Habits and the Railroad in the United States, 1915-32, Edward Slavishak (History, Susquehanna University) examines the relationship between technology, custom, and the law in a rural context by examining two Pennsylvania trials brought against railroad companies after relatives died in train collisions in the early twentieth century.

Relying on trial transcripts, Slavishak investigates the taken-for-granted knowledge of landscapes that developed from practice and was cemented through repetition in rural Pennsylvania communities. In the first case Slavishak examines, the 1915 Diehl case, a traveler died when a train smashed into his one-horse buggy at a crossing. In the second case Slavishak explores, the 1932 Grabowski case, John Grabowski was hit by a locomotive when he crossed over the track not at a grade crossing. In both of the cases examined by Slavishak, the plaintiff relied on a sense of local custom to defend against charges of contributory negligence. Trial transcripts reveal a shared sense of community and movement as testifiers explained local crossing practices.

Against this interplay of custom and technology, Slavishak also traces the transformation of the legal terrain, with reduced weight given to custom over time. Twenty years before the 1915 Diehl case, a Pennsylvania judge noted that “a general habit of the public to stop in a certain place is persuasive evidence that the place is the right one.” By the time of the Diehl case, the jury found it reasonable for the train crew to assume people moving across tracks would follow the state law requiring them to “stop, look, and listen” rather than local custom. Seventeen years after the Diehl case, the legal terrain had shifted yet again in response to the proliferation of automobiles and jurisdictions dropped the requirement to stop while keeping the “look and listen” standard.

Collision Course highlights how the mundane practice of crossing a railroad track can provide insight into the struggle between technology, the law, and the everyday practices of rural people. Slavishak also calls attention to the importance of the construction of place in rural settings and suggests the importance of policy makers’ investigation into local customs when making decisions.