Attention Kentucky Drivers: Support Rail Safety With OLI License Plate
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Pictured: Operation Lifesaver Kentucky’s new specialty license plate, which was designed in collaboration with R.J. Corman Railroad Company. (Photograph Courtesy of R.J. Corman Railroad Company)
Kentucky drivers have another way to show their commitment to railroad safety: through the purchase of a specialty license plate featuring Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI). This is the first railroad safety-specific license plate in the U.S.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has partnered with Operation Lifesaver Kentucky to offer the new plate, R.J. Corman Railroad Company reported March 21. The plate showcases the OLI logo and the non-profit’s safety message, “See Tracks? Think Train,” which is used throughout its public education campaigns and community outreach programs dedicated to preventing injuries and fatalities at railroad crossings and along train tracks. Against the backdrop of a classic Central Kentucky landscape is a locomotive, whose red and silver color scheme pays tribute to one of the state’s own railroad companies, R.J. Corman, which runs 19 short lines in 11 states, including the Central Kentucky Lines. R.J. Corman Railroad Group’s Graphic Arts team collaborated with OLI on the design.
A portion of the proceeds from each plate sold goes directly to Operation Lifesaver Kentucky. Any owner of a noncommercial motor vehicle required to be registered for use on Kentucky highways can obtain the new plate at their local KYTC licensing office or the KYTC website.
“Kentucky Operation Lifesaver created the first railroad safety-specific license plate in the U.S.,” Kentucky Operation Lifesaver Executive Director B. Wayne Gentry said. “While this will help create funds to help carry our safety message and provide funding for scholarships, it will forever carry our safety slogan: ‘See Tracks? Think Train.’”
”Kentucky Operation Lifesaver is one of R.J. Corman’s biggest cheerleaders and is always trying to promote good public relations,” Gentry added. ”We look forward to continuing to work together to promote the safety of their employees and the citizens of Kentucky.”
“Safety is R.J. Corman’s number one priority, and we are proud to partner with Operation Lifesaver in different ways,” said Benny Gettinger, Director of Corporate Relations at R.J. Corman Railroad Group. “We are glad to contribute to their mission to prevent collisions, injuries, and fatalities on and around railroad tracks and highway/rail grade crossings.”
In a related development, Rail Safety Week in the U.S. has been renamed and rebranded as: See Tracks? Think Train!® Week or ST3Week for short. It will be observed this year on Sept 23-29.
First held in the U.S. in 2017, this collaborative effort among OLI, state OLI programs, and rail safety education partners across the U.S., Canada and Mexico has been rebranded “to better represent what the weeklong observance is all about”: educating the public and preventing railroad crossing and trespass incidents across North America; and concentrating public attention on the need for rail safety education, according to OLI.
