Teen tragedy in Utah highlights need for Operation Lifesaver’s “Bad Move” PSA

WASHINGTON, DC, October 19, 2011 – A tragic incident involving teens and trains in Utah has underscored the importance of Operation Lifesaver’s new “Bad Move” pedestrian rail safety campaign.  KSL-TV in Salt Lake City featured the campaign in a story about a recent local pedestrian-train incident that resulted in the deaths of two girls and injuries to a third.  The KSL news coverage included excerpts from the PSA and an interview with Utah Operation Lifesaver State Coordinator Vern Keeslar.

See the story here http://bit.ly/nyw3Kv

The national nonprofit education organization’s “Bad Move” PSA (www.oli.org/badmove), which tells the story of a young couple who choose a dangerous place to walk, targets ages 16-34 with a goal of reducing pedestrian-rail trespass injuries and deaths.  An accompanying poster has a QR code that allows users with a reader app to view the PSA on their smart phones. The "Bad Move" poster has been distributed to 130 driver education classrooms across Utah to promote public rail safety for drivers and pedestrians.

“Our thoughts are with the families of these young girls,” said Operation Lifesaver President Helen Sramek. “The goal of our latest safety campaign is to emphasize the need to stay away from the tracks – so that tragedies like this can be prevented.”

The PSA and posters are being distributed through Operation Lifesaver’s 50 state programs. In addition, Amtrak’s home page, www.amtrak.com, features a link to the PSA; and transit systems including Sound Transit in Seattle, Washington, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District South Shore line in Northwestern Indiana, and Capital MetroRail in Austin, Texas are displaying the posters.  For more information, contact your State Coordinator by visiting www.oli.org.

Operation Lifesaver(www.oli.org)is a national, non-profit safety education group whose goal is to eliminate deaths and injuries at railroad crossings and along railroad rights of way. It has programs in all 50 states with trained and certified presenters who provide free talks to raise the public’s safety awareness around tracks and trains. 

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