Calif. launches train safety campaign

In an effort to reduce the number of pedestrians killed and injured when trespassing around tracks and trains, Amtrak, Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI), California's transportation agencies and major freight railroad companies launched the "Common Sense" rail safety campaign.

The campaign is focused on 18 to 34-year-olds, who make up more than one-third of all railroad-related pedestrian casualties. California leads the nation in pedestrian-train fatalities and, in the past 12 months, the Bay Area has experienced an upward trend in deadly train incidents.  

"Our goal for this campaign is to save lives by letting people know that walking or playing around train tracks or using railroad tracks as a shortcut is potentially deadly and always illegal," said Helen M. Sramek, president of OLI.