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News Brief

Sept. 24, 2019 |  By: Will Linder

'Rail Safety Week' to bring public awareness to track tragedies

This week marks the annual public awareness campaign titled 'Rail Safety Week'.

Each year, 2,100 North Americans are seriously injured or killed due to unsafe behavior near rails and trains.  This week, the Missouri Operation Lifesaver will partner with Operation Lifesaver Inc. to raise awareness and help save lives near railroad tracks.

Executive Director for Missouri Operation Lifesaver, Tim Hull, says this week will show an important purpose of preventing such events from occurring.

"Our mission is to eliminate crossing deaths and trespassing incidents all together.   We'd like to see that down to nothing.  That's our goal.  Thus, we keep working toward that.  We know that people are going to make mistakes, but there are those situations that are avoidable."

The campaign is called #STOPTrackTragedies and will feature a series of seven videos each telling personal stories of people affected by railroad crossing or trespassing incidents. Hill says that there are simple and easy tips to avoid accidents near the tracks.

"Pay attention, look both ways, make sure there is not a train coming.  It's illegal to drive around those gates and it's very very dangerous.  So we always take that opportunity, especially during this week, to make that point.  And that's how we stop those track tragedies."

Operation Lifesaver Inc. has many stationed chapters around the United States and Canada. For more information about their organization or to learn more about 'Rail Safety Week', visit OLI.org.