Operation Lifesaver, a national public education program sponsored by the Railway Association of Canada and Transport Canada and working in co-operation with the Canada Safety Council, provincial safety councils/leagues, railway companies, unions, police, public and community groups, has recently added a unique method of warning people of the dangers of level rail crossings. "We looked at who we were missing in our education process," says Tom Bozyk, Yard Conductor, CN Prairie Division, Winnipeg and a volunteer for Operation Lifesaver. "We can educate children in school, teens taking driver's education and professional drivers such as truck drivers but we were still missing a large number of people that we had been unable to target." As Operation Lifesaver pondered ways to change this and to potentially save more lives, they hit upon the idea of rolling billboards.

Bozyk explains that the idea behind the rolling billboards was to draw attention to the message and to get people talking about it and asking questions. They took three CN Engineering Rider Cars, cars used by engineering and transportation crews and emblazoned them in French on one side and English on the other, with the message, "Look. Listen. Live." The graphics come to life with 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Graphic Film.

The railcars, part of the Prairie Division Track Services' work trains have been transporting work crews to and from sites throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario on a daily basis since their startling transformation. As they travel through the 3 provinces, the message is being seen. "People are stopping on highways to take pictures of these rail cars," Bozyk says.

The message on the 3M™ graphics, came to pass with the cooperation of several groups. CN made the cars available, Burlington Northern (Manitoba) Limited donated space and equipment in their engine house in Winnipeg to do the work, Shane Stewart, a railway enthusiast designed the look, and Intergraphics Decal of Winnipeg applied the graphics. It took volunteers almost 100 hours to ready the cars for their debut but with Operation Lifesaver's goal of reducing needless loss of life, injuries and damages caused by highway/railway crossing collisions and train/pedestrian incidents, they knew their time was being well spent.

The volunteers of Operation Lifesaver couldn't be more pleased with the look of the railcars. "If we had just tried to paint this message on the cars - well, it just wouldn't even compare with what we are accomplishing with these graphics," Bozyk believes. "Now we are getting our message out that everyone can enhance safety."