VIDEO: MTA Launches Grade Crossing Safety Campaign

Written by LANNING TALIAFERRO (Patch Staff)

In a new partnership to promote safety at Metro-North and LIRR railroad crossings, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Operation Lifesaver, Inc. announced that their first initiative is an advertising campaign at the movies, on television, in newspapers, online and on outdoor signs to begin appearing today.

It’s an important move for the MTA. Although the numbers of accidents and fatalities at level grade rail crossings have fallen steadily on a national level, they have increased in New York State.

Six people died in February at a Metro North grade crossing in Westchester County when an Edgemont woman ignored the gate and drove onto the tracks as a commuter train came through.

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The two organizations officially forged their partnership when a Memorandum of Understanding outlining resource sharing arrangements was signed by MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast and Operation Lifesaver President and CEO Joyce Rose.

“The best way to prevent needless tragedies at railroad crossings is to observe the so-called Three E’s of crossing safety: education, engineering and enforcement,” Prendergast said in a prepared statement. “The MTA Police and local jurisdictions throughout our region have done tremendous work stepping up enforcement, and our railroads are in continuous discussions with DOTs and our partner communities to improve engineering. Today, we enter a new phase of our successful partnership built around education. By joining forces in this way, the MTA will have direct access to Operation Lifesaver’s best-in-class educational programs and materials.”

The ad campaign launched yesterday allows the two organizations to benefit from Operation Lifesaver’s expertise in public safety messages and education and the MTA’s advertising style already familiar to New Yorkers through the “Courtesy Counts” ad campaign. See the video below.

“We are committed to reducing collisions, deaths and injuries at grade crossings and near railroad tracks, and look forward to working closely with MTA in these efforts,” Rose said. “Our new partnership with MTA is a great opportunity for both organizations to build on past safety efforts and create initiatives that will reverse the recent increase in rail crossing collisions and deaths. Together, we can help empower the people of New York to keep themselves safe.”

Operation Lifesaver is a national organization devoted to reducing injuries and collisions at railroad crossings along with pedestrian rail trespass incidents. Over the past 40+ years, the organization has developed education programs and public awareness campaigns that have helped reduce collisions in the U.S. from 12,000 per year to approximately 2,000 per year. It has 80 volunteers in New York State who provide free safety presentations to any group.

The advertising campaign being launched today includes five outdoor sign advertisements and three videos that share consistent visual elements to promote the safety message. The ads use tag lines such as “Isn’t Your Life Worth the Wait?,” “Don’t Shortcut Your Life,” and “Wait for the Gate.”

The MTA also launched a new safety-focused section of its website, web.mta.info/safety, and social media hashtag #MTASafety.