On 10 and 11 June, the UIC, the worldwide railway association, the international rail community and many partners from the road sector as well as a number of international institutions will be holding the 8th edition of International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD: www.ilcad.org). To launch this worldwide campaign an international conference on level crossing safety will be hosted by “Latvian Railways” (LDz: http://www.ldz.lv/) on 10 June in Riga (Latvia), followed by a technical visit in Tallinn (Estonia) on 11 June organised by Operation Lifesaver Estonia (OLE: http://ole.ee).
Again this year ILCAD will bring together about 40 countries http://www.ilcad.org/Participants-2016.html to participate in this global event, either by relaying it on their websites or on social media, or by organising a range of activities around 10-11 June. The partners in ILCAD will be focusing in particular on safety at level crossings, but some will also make the most of the opportunity to raise public awareness of other dangers such as crossing railway lines where it is strictly forbidden to do so, or safety on station platforms. We wish our partners all the best for their campaign.”
Each year, the ILCAD partners choose a different section of the public for their awareness campaign. Since we have been experiencing in a certain number of countries an increasing number of collisions at level crossings involving seniors, we have decided this year to focus on “Senior citizens and people with sensory and mobility restrictions”.
To promote the awareness of senior citizens and people with mobility restrictions UIC and LDz have co-produced posters and a new video available on internet and broadcast on TV.
The video is available in Latvian, English, French and Spanish http://www.ilcad.org/Videos.html or http://www.uic.org/videos
This joint UIC/ILCAD/LDz safety awareness communication materials aim to challenge physical abilities of elderly people who tend to overestimate their own physical capacity near railways. According to the research and strategy of the communication agency’s proposal, seniors are opinionated and they claim to be experienced enough when asked about safety near level crossings. The aim of the creative concept in the given context is: to spread healthy thoughts about how senior citizens’ evaluate their own physical abilities – to challenge physical abilities in a witty manner among senior citizens – and to raise their awareness on railway safety issues.
The video and posters were developed with seniors in mind, but will be useful as a reminder to all other level crossing users and particularly persons with mobility restrictions.
Our accident-prevention message for 2016: “Do not overestimate your abilities near railway tracks!” is for everyone.
- Video 2016 in French: https://youtu.be/p4WYnM3eGqU
- Video 2016 in Spanish: https://youtu.be/klkU3ip0hMY
