Tips Tuesday: Roundabouts
September 15, 2025
Tips Tuesday: Child Passenger Safety
September 24, 2025
| This week (September 15-21) is National Rail Safety Week! The focus of National Rail Safety Week is to encourage safe driving, walking, and biking while around railroad tracks. Every three hours in the United States, a vehicle or person is struck by a train. Most of these incidents are preventable with more than 60% happening at crossings equipped with lights and/or gates, meaning these warnings were ignored. (Source). Railroads are a vital part of Florida’s economy and communities, moving goods and people across the state. Rail safety education can help save lives and prevent serious injuries while honoring all who interact with this crucial part of our multimodal transportation system. Let’s support the mission of Rail Safety this week and beyond! Raising Internal Awareness: No matter what office you officially call ‘home,’ we all can play a role in supporting safety -To make it easy for you to share the message, we’ve included two attachments: A custom Teams background you can use during meetings this week to keep rail safety top of mind. A Target Zero trivia card to test your knowledge and spark conversations with colleagues. -Learn more about FDOT’s Florida Rail Safety Coalition! This coalition is a partnership of industry experts, FDOT team members, law enforcement, universities, advocacy groups, and community leaders, all committed to ensuring the safety of our communities around trains and tracks. In the Community: Grass-roots outreach efforts greatly improve safety messaging effectiveness – these one-on-one conversations have far-reaching impacts -One of the most effective ways to spread the message of Rail Safety Week is through personal connection. By talking directly with neighbors, students, or local groups, you can help change behaviors and improve safety. If you’d like to take it a step further, consider becoming an Operation Lifesaver Volunteer. These trained volunteers offer free rail safety presentations across the country, helping people of all ages make safer choices. Learn more: Volunteer | Operation Lifesaver -FDOT’s Operation STRIDE and Be Rail Smart offer wonderful, downloadable resources to share digitally that support the mission of Rail Safety Week! Learn more and share the knowledge with friends, family, and your community. In Your Everyday Life: Even when you’re not ‘on-the-clock,’ there are ways to improve safety culture in Florida Rail Safety Tips: -Only cross at designated crossings, stay alert, and obey all signals. Crossing or trespassing anywhere else along the tracks is illegal and dangerous. -When driving, always leave a buffer between you and the vehicle in front of you when approaching a railroad crossing. -When pulling a trailer, be sure that your trailer clears the tracks, too. -When crossing as a bicyclist or pedestrian, stay alert and wait until the lights stop flashing and the bell stops ringing. Be extra cautious where there are two or more tracks, another train may be coming from the opposite direction. Use the attached Rail Safety Week tip card to share these important safety tips both internally and within your community. Every effort to promote safe behaviors and highlight safe systems helps protect the people we care about most. When we work together to prioritize safety, we are more than just drivers on the roadways, we’re a community cultivating a culture of safety. Thank you for all your continued efforts! Savannah & the Target Zero Team |
