Union Pacific Launches 'Your Life Is Worth the Wait' Campaign
"Train accidents are preventable if people actively think about their safety at railroad crossings and choose to stop and patiently wait for approaching trains," said Cameron Scott, Union Pacific's executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Union Pacific launched a "Your Life Is Worth the Wait" public railroad safety campaign on Aug. 15 on Facebook, YouTube, Hulu, and online news sites. It invites visitors to watch and share videos on social media to help their relatives and friends prevent tragedies on railroad tracks. Sharing the videos via social media could save lives, says the Omaha, Neb.-based company.
One video is titled "Think You'll Hear a Train? Think Again." It explains that most of the noise created by a train is behind the locomotive, so a person on the tracks as a train approaches may not hear it until it's too late.
"Trains cannot swerve or stop quickly. Unfortunately for drivers and pedestrians, trains follow the rails forward, hitting anyone or anything in their paths," said Cameron Scott, Union Pacific's executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Train accidents are preventable if people actively think about their safety at railroad crossings and choose to stop and patiently wait for approaching trains."
The company says according to the Federal Railroad Administration, 94 percent of train-vehicle collisions are attributed to driver behavior or poor judgment. The new campaign highlights risky driver and pedestrian behaviors in videos "dispelling misconceptions that a train's enormous size and sounds are obvious warnings that prevent people from getting hit."
The company's YouTube videos put viewers in the driver's seat as hurrying motorists approach railroad tracks. Viewers choose the ending by clicking a "cross" or "don't cross" option, each of which leads the driver to a different ending and reminds viewers it's worth the wait to spend a few minutes letting trains pass at railroad crossings. Union Pacific's "Curfew" video follows a teenage boy hurrying to get his date home before curfew and racing to beat an approaching train at a crossing.