Mary T. Wojtyla

In June 2015, the Federal Railroad Administration announced a railway safety initiative with Google that would include the FRAs GIS data into its mapping services. The data pinpoints the location of over 250,000 rail crossings in the United States. The FRA believes that providing the location of rail crossings in maps will enhance crossing safety by people who are using navigation systems while driving.

The most populous states have the greatest number of train fatalities. In 2014, California had 141 deaths.

Pedestrian bridges have been used to help prevent train pedestrian fatalities. After the 2005 death of a young boy, the city of San Jose, California built a pedestrian overpass.

Pedestrian railroad safety is concerned with the protection of life through regulation, management and technology development of all forms of rail transportation. In the United States there are some 180,000 miles of track. Pedestrian railroad accidents are the leading cause of death on railways. More than 7,200 pedestrians have been killed by trains in the United States since 1997.

Pedestrian railroad accidents are the leading cause of death on railways. More than 7,200 pedestrians have been killed by trains in the United States since 1997. An additional 6,400 have been injured. Each year on average about 500 are killed. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of deaths involving trains and motor vehicles dropped 42% to 248. In the same period, deaths involving pedestrians only fell 6% to 434, the Federal Railroad Administration reported. In 2014, every week in the United States, about 16 people were killed by trains.

Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit association, was co-founded in the 1970s by Union Pacific Railroad, and has been criticized as having a pro-railroad agenda. In 2017, Operation Lifesaver, Inc. awarded $217,000 for rail safety public awareness campaigns in 15 states.