OLI Campaign Seeks to Discourage Walking on Tracks

Operation Lifesaver has launched a public service  campaign focusing on preventing trespassing on railroad tracks.

“Walking on the railroad tracks is considered trespassing – it’s against the law,” said OLI Executive Director Rachel Maleh. “This new PSA [public service announcement] demonstrates, in a very compelling way, the potential dangers pedestrians put themselves in by being distracted and walking on or too close to the tracks.”

Maleh said the objective of the campaign is the to show the tragic consequences that can occur when people walk on railroad tracks, including deaths, serious injuries and near misses.

The announcement is being funded by railroads serving Chicago as well as the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh.

OLI said it developed the PSA in response to a recent increase in railroad trespass incidents. Preliminary 2018 statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration show 1,014 total trespassing injuries and deaths, on par with the 1,014 incidents in 2017 and an increase from the 946 incidents in 2016.

For more information, go to oli.org/near-miss.

FRA Pilot Program Tackles Trespassing

A pilot program to reduce trespassing on railroad property was announced this week by the Federal Railroad Administration.

In a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register, the FRA said the program seeks to help local law enforcement agencies evaluate local efforts to reduce trespassing on railroad rights-of-way. The total grant funds available are $150,000.

The FRA notice said that trespasser deaths average 500 per year, which exceeds the number of fatalities in automobiles at grade crossings.

The grant program stems from a trespassing prevention workshop the FRA conducted in August 2015.

Those receiving the grants would be expected to finish their projects in six months.