(Operation Lifesaver issued the following news release on November 21.)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OL), the national, non-profit safety education program, today launched its new website and logo as a result of a year-long re-branding effort to expand the group’s reach to more audiences.
The new website, http://www.oli.org, builds on Operation Lifesaver’s decades of experience as the nation’s leading rail safety education organization, emphasizing OL’s community efforts to improve driver and pedestrian safety around tracks and trains. “The new website makes it easier for visitors to find safety tips and statistics and locate Operation Lifesaver contacts in their state,” noted Operation Lifesaver President Gerri Hall.
In addition, Operation Lifesaver’s new logo — an easily recognizable stylized railroad crossbuck that more clearly ties the group to the cause of rail safety — is incorporated throughout the new site. “Unveiling the new logo in conjunction with the launch of our new website will help us strengthen the Operation Lifesaver safety brand,” said Hall.
New features on the website include:
— Expanded safety statistics. A new “Statistics” section includes data on highway-rail grade crossing incidents, fatalities injuries, showing the downward trend over time. Data on pedestrian rail trespass incidents and casualties also is available.
— A new “Results” section contains information on Operation Lifesaver’s educational efforts in recent years, including presentations given, specialty training, and special events held nationwide.
— Easier ways to find local and national information. The new site has a clickable U.S. map so journalists and organizations interested in scheduling a safety presentation by an OL presenter can quickly locate their local Operation Lifesaver expert.
— Additional information on safety training for a variety of drivers including professional drivers, school bus drivers, student drivers, law enforcement officers, and emergency responders who will now be able to access informational and training materials designed just for their needs.
— An “About Us” section that introduces OL to first-time visitors.
— An “Education Resources” section with a wealth of information for teachers and parents on rail safety for kids, segmented by grade level.
The popular “For Kids” section from the old site has been improved for easier navigation. The interactive “Safetyville” section includes games and activities just for kids, and a new “Light Rail Safety” link offers kid-friendly safety materials about passenger rail.
“Through internal focus group research, we re-evaluated our website and rebuilt it from the ground up to meet the needs of the general public, our safety partners and Operation Lifesaver’s 3,000 volunteer safety speakers, 50 state coordinators (in 49 states and the District of Columbia) and safety trainers,” said Hall.
“The goal of the new logo and website is to reiterate our basic safety message: Look, Listen, and Live,” Hall continued. “We also want to redouble our efforts to reach pedestrians, because while the number of vehicle-train collisions continues to drop, the number of people injured or killed while walking or playing on tracks and along rail rights-of-way remains high. We hope our new site and logo reinforce the message that tracks are no place to walk or play.”
Operation Lifesaver’s safety programs are sponsored cooperatively by federal, state, and local government agencies, highway safety organizations, and the nation’s railroads. “Funding from the Federal Railroad Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation has made it possible for Operation Lifesaver to improve its communications tools, including developing a more effective web site, which will extend our outreach efforts with better organized, easier to locate and more useful safety information,” Hall said. “This in turn supports Operation Lifesaver’s mission to eliminate collisions, deaths and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and along railroad rights-of-way.”
About Operation Lifesaver
Operation Lifesaver Inc. began in 1972 in Idaho at a meeting of the Peace Officers’ Association (law enforcement). Then-Governor Cecil Andrus agreed to work with the Peace Officers and two Union Pacific employees who had a plan to reduce vehicle-train collisions in Idaho by making safety presentations to at-risk groups (school bus drivers, truck drivers, students and community groups). In the first year, Idaho experienced a 43% reduction in fatalities. In 1973, the initial year in Nebraska, that state experienced a 26% drop in the rate of collisions at rail crossings. The program reached every state but Hawaii by 1986, and started in the District of Columbia in 2002. Today programs based on the Operation Lifesaver format are operating in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Estonia and Argentina. To learn more and see the website’s new look, visit our site at http://www.oli.org