OL Presenters Featured in AP Story

Operation Lifesaver Presenter Trainer Gordon Bowe of Illinois and Harry Stewart of Texas are featured in an Associated Press news story (linked below), which explores trespass incidents from the engineer’s perspective. 
http://bit.ly/1sDma3

The story discusses the trauma of being helpless to avoid hitting people who are recklessly or deliberately on the tracks as a little-known side of a locomotive engineer’s job. Pedestrian-train deaths have remained steady while train-vehicle crashes have plummeted over the last 30 years.

Illinois Operation Lifesaver State Coordinator Chip Pew says Bowe’s passion for educating people about rail safety is so strong that he regularly uses four weeks of his five-week annual leave to make OL safety presentations.

Trespass prevention has been in the news lately. An opinion editorial on pedestrian safety issues by Georgia Operation Lifesaver State Coordinator Jennie Glasgow recently ran in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. See it at http://bit.ly/x3Jxx

Learn more about Operation Lifesaver’s new Common Sense pedestrian rail trespass prevention campaign by visiting www.CommonSenseUseIt.com.

Common Sense Rail Safety Tips
1.   Always expect a train.
2.  Turn your cell phone and MP3 player off when you’re near train tracks.  Forget texting, as it could be a deadly distraction. 
3.  Trains are quieter than you think, go faster than they appear, and do not run on set schedules.
4.  Look both ways and listen before crossing train tracks. 
5.   Anywhere other than a public crossing, stay off and away from the tracks.
6.   Tracks, trestles, rail yards and equipment are private property.  If you hunt, fish or ride your ATV on the tracks, you are trespassing.