Operation LifeSaver

What is Operation Lifesaver?
Operation Lifesaver is a non-profit, international, public education program first established in 1972 to end collisions, deaths and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on railroad rights-of-way. To accomplish its mission, Operation Lifesaver promotes 3 E's:

EDUCATION-Operation Lifesaver strives to increase public awareness about the dangers around the rails. The program seeks to educate both drivers and pedestrians to make safe decisions at crossings and around railroad tracks.

ENFORCEMENT-Operation Lifesaver promotes active enforcement of traffic laws relating to crossing signs and signals and private property laws related to trespassing.

ENGINEERING-Operation Lifesaver encourages continued engineering research and innovation to improve the safety of railroad crossings.

Operation Lifesaver programs are supported by a wide variety of partners, including federal, state, and local government agencies, highway safety organizations, law enforcement, the nation’s railroads and their suppliers.

How does Operation Lifesaver work?
Operation Lifesaver’s trained and certified volunteer speakers provide free safety presentations for people of all professions and age groups to help them make safe decisions around tracks and trains. Educational brochures and videos, coloring books for children and training information can be found at Operation Lifesaver’s website.

Visit www.oli.org or www.paoperationlifesaver.org to find out more about rail safety for motorists and pedestrians. Free presentations are available for anyone who lives or travels near train tracks: students, professional drivers, motorists, emergency responders, community leaders. To schedule a FREE presentation, contact our Pennsylvania Operation Lifesaver State Coordinator, Jack Hubbard at 717-787-6935 or Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad, Operation Lifesaver Presenters: Elizabeth Lucas at 570-347-5232 or Lorie Ransom at 570-343-4580.

Safety Tips:

1. Freight trains do not travel on a predictable schedule. Always expect a train at every highway-rail intersection.
2. Train tracks are private property. Trains have the right of way 100% of the time — over ambulances, fire engines, cars, the police and pedestrians.
3. If there are rails on the railroad ties, assume that the track is in use, even if there are weeds or the track looks "rusty."
4. A typical locomotive weighs approximately 400,000 pounds or 200 tons. When 100 railcars are added to the locomotive, the train can weigh approximately 6,000 tons. The weight ratio of an automobile to a train is proportional to a soda can and an automobile.
5. A train may extend three feet or more outside the steel rail, which makes the safety zone for pedestrians well beyond the rails themselves.
6. Trains cannot stop quickly. It is a simple law of physics: the enormous mass of the train and the speed of the train dictate how quickly it can stop under ideal conditions. A 100-car freight train traveling at 55 miles per hour will need more than a mile to stop — that's approximately 18 football fields — once the brakes are applied.
7. Trains can move in either direction at any time. Trains are sometimes pushed by locomotives instead of being pulled.
8. Modern trains are quieter than ever, with no telltale "clackety-clack." Also, an approaching train will always be closer and moving faster than you think.
9. Cross tracks ONLY at designated pedestrian or roadway crossings. Observe and obey all warning signs and signals.
10. Never walk down a train track; it's illegal and it's dangerous. By the time a locomotive engineer sees a trespasser or a vehicle on the tracks, it is too late. The train cannot stop quickly enough to avoid a collision.