The “Safety spotlight” section of LXinfo takes stories with parallels in other parts of the world. This month we look at a story of truly world-wide interest, the preparations for the first International Level Crossing Awareness Day to be held on June 22nd, 2010. With well over forty countries committed to the initiative we can expect a veritable flood of media interest in level crossing safety on and after June 22nd.

The organisers of ILCAD are to be commended for taking a giant step forward from the European Level Crossing Awareness Day held in June 2009 which in turn was a major step in developing a pan-national shared approach to issues found in all countries having level crossings.

Preparations for the first International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) which is to be held on June 22nd, 2010 are being finalised in the 45 participating countries across all five continents. ILCAD follows on from the very successful European Level Crossing Awareness Day (LXinfo July 2009) which attracted interest beyond Europe.

New for ILCAD is a video clip funded by the European Commission which will be used throughout Europe in support of awareness raising across the continent. Each participating nation is organising press releases and a range of events which will attract media interest to help get across the actions motorists and other users of level crossings can take to stay safe and avoid being hit by a train which all too often proves fatal and has the potential to derail a train with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Nationally rail infrastructure managers, highways authorities, enforcement agencies, driving schools and other public sector (e.g. Departments of Transport) and not for profit organisations (e.g. Operation Lifesaver) will be taking the lead in getting the ILCAD message to as wide an audience as possible.
These

Representative bodies supporting ILCAD include:

ILCAD can be found online at www.ilcad.org