Operation Lifesaver supports the safety initiatives of our partners and stakeholders
During Safe Crossing Week 2008 from October 20 – 26, more than 100,000 elementary school children in more than 600 schools across Canada will learn about safety at railway crossings. Safe Crossing Week is a joint initiative of CN and Safe Kids Canada.
Last year in Canada, 84 people were killed in incidents involving trains. Education about rail safety can help prevent many of these deaths and teaching children at a young age is vital.
PARENTS: NOW’S THE TIME!
This year, Safe Crossing Week focuses on parents’ responsibility to talk to their children about railway crossing safety and safe behaviour around trains and tracks. With the theme Parents: Now’s the Time! Don’t wait for a tragedy, Safe Kids Canada and CN are urging parents to talk to their young children now — to teach them important life-saving safety rules to prevent a possible tragedy.
Come on board by:
• Issuing a call to action for parents to teach their kids about railway crossing safety.
• Promoting Safe Crossing Week 2008 on your website.
• Directing parents to the Safe Crossing Week 2008 online toolkit – which helps them initiate dialogue and prompt questions from their children.
Encourage parents to talk about these important safety rules with their children:
• Always cross at a railway crossing. A crossing has a sign or gates. Just like crossing the street – stop and look both ways before crossing train tracks.
• Listen for warning bells and watch for the flashing lights.
• Do not count on hearing a whistle to warn that a train is coming.
• If a train is going by, stand about 10 giant steps back from the tracks.
• Never try to cross the tracks if a train is coming. It is too dangerous.
• If one train goes by, look both ways again before crossing. Make sure another train is not coming from the same or another direction.
• Always walk your bike across the tracks to make sure your tires don’t get caught.
• Take off your headphones when you are near railway tracks.
Together we can keep our children safe.
To access the online teaching tools visit http://www.safekidscanada.ca or call 1-888-SAFE-TIPS (723-3847). Young children may also learn more about rail safety while having fun with Obie, CN's safety train, and his engineer friend, Max, at http://www.cn.ca/obie.
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