OL Canada Partners With Waze for Safety App
Written by Andrew Corselli
Operation Lifesaver (OL) Canada announced a partnership with navigation app Waze in an effort to alert Canadian drivers to rail crossings through a new safety feature embedded in the app.
Drivers using versions 4.61 or higher of Waze will now see a banner alerting them to upcoming crossings and encouraging them to approach with caution. The feature was developed using rail crossing location data from the Canadian Rail Atlas, the Railway Association of Canada’s interactive map of Canada’s more than 41,000-kilometer railway network.
OL has been advocating for technology companies to incorporate rail-crossing alerts into their navigation applications since 2017, and hopes that other companies will follow Waze’s lead.
“This is a perfect example of organizations collaborating and innovating to save lives,” said Sarah Mayes, National Director of Operation Lifesaver Canada. “We’re hopeful that when Canadians see a Waze rail crossing alert, they’ll slow down and prepare to stop, obey all railway warning signs and signals, and remember to Look. Listen. Live. before proceeding through any crossing.”
