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Driving instructors have the biggest influence on the habits acquired by young drivers. That’s why since 2016 the PLK’s safety experts drive across the country and organize special seminars for the representatives of driving schools. We try to reach all the places where the young drivers are being taught. We have travelled through Poland from Rzeszów to Szczecin and from Suwałki to Jelenia Góra. Ca. 5,000 driving instructors received didactic materials. During the workshops, we present clips from railroad crossings incidents, interesting facts, we discuss the examples of both improper and desired drivers’ behaviors. The instructors receive knowledge, which they can later use during their own classes with students. What’s important, participants of the workshops can also exchange experiences during the classes.

Jarring of a smashed car. Cracking sparks from underneath the wheels. The howling of sirens of the rescue team hurrying to get to the accident. Everyone who has witnessed one of many PLK’s train and car’s crash simulations has taken seriously the experts’ call to be extremely cautious while driving through a railway level crossing. Nothing sends a better message than participation in a real accident. We use controlled conditions, experienced stuntmen and exceptional safety standards to present what a crash on the railway tracks looks like. Our presentations are remarkably popular in the media. In 2022 alone, the simulation in the Warsaw Praga district was attended by over 50 journalists from all the significant TV channels, radio stations, newspapers and Internet media in the country. They shared the knowledge about safety they gained there with their audience. Video materials from our event reached homes throughout Poland, immensely increasing social awareness.

The simulations precisely show what happens to the vehicles and people during an accident. Visualization of an incident has an immense influence on peoples’ emotions. Only then are we able to fully comprehend what will happen if we don’t stop in front of the “STOP” sign or if we try to drive pass the closed railway level crossing gates. The simulation shows that both pedestrians as well as drivers have no chance against the speeding train. A part of the simulation is also devoted to an exemplary rescue operation by firefighters and police. As a result, our simulations provide also an opportunity for the rescue services to practice, thus helping them to prepare for real intervention.

Main idea of this initiative is to carry out more controls on the railway level crossings during summer vacations in order to eliminate unwanted behaviors among the drivers and the use of the “wild passages” by the pedestrians. Flyers are handed out to every participant of the traffic. As a result, the most common offences committed by drivers have been identified. These are: lack of reaction to the STOP sign, driving through the railroad crossing in spite of the signaling (red lights flashing alternately), attempts to drive under the closing or opening railway level crossing gates and bypassing them. Representatives of the rescue services and railway personnel instruct people crossing railway lines how to behave correctly in the railway track area. However, people who break the rules in a glaring manner can expect a warning, or even a fine. During one day, the activities are carried out in dozens of Polish cities. “Safe Friday” is organised at the most used railway level crossings and along the railway tracks, where the “wild passages” appear.

Each year, October is devoted to spreading the ideas of “Safe railway level crossing” campaign among students and preschoolers by the PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S. A. We try to reach as many people as possible by organizing lectures. The goal is to make young people aware of how to correctly cross the railroad by car or on foot. We want each and every traffic participant, no matter of their age, to know how to behave correctly in the railway areas. During the educational meetings, campaign’s coordinators from all over Poland and the Railroad Guards meet with children teaching them basic rules of crossing the railway tracks. What’s more, young participants learn most important signs and acquire knowledge concerning behaviors that are forbidden near the tracks. They learn by having fun, so the organizers of the project diversify the meetings with educational videos, games and contests. To encourage children and to make them interested, they are given didactic notebooks, coloring books, reflective accessories and other educational tools. It is the correct raising of the youngest that determines how they will act on the railway track as drivers in the future. We don’t wait for others to do it for us – we take the education of the safety on railway level crossings upon us!

The PLK’s experts want to spread the campaign’s message everywhere, where it can reach the society. Our stands will appear everywhere where something interesting and informative is happening. We are adjusting our ways of teaching the audience by taking part in various events – from the Children’s Day picnic in the Prime Minister’s Office to the Moto Safety Day or the Transportation Days. For children, we prepare games, quizzes and animations and  we tell adults about safety in the railway traffic and about the driver’s responsibility. We check their knowledge about current regulations. We use unique, specialized knowledge and we do it in a nice atmosphere. Look for us everywhere, where there is something happening devoted to safety in road and railway traffic!