A wait of less than a minute will lead to a gain of whole life time. This is the message Southern Railway headquartered in Chennai tells the people in the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The Railways on the occasion of the International level Crossing Awareness Day has come out with a sprightly shot short film “Stop, look And Proceed” cautioning railway users about all kinds of level-crosses.
The one-minute duration film depicts an illusory situation when the safety precautions are ignored at level crossing, which prompts people to rethink, said MK Gopinath, public relations officer, Southern Railway. Since the film is based only on visuals and background music, it could be aired all over the country to warn the railway users about the dangers associated with level crossings.
According to a release by the Railways, there are 31, 254 level crossings on Indian Railways. Out of these crossings, 12,500 are unmanned level crossings. More than 40 per cent of the rail accidents are due to unmanned level crossings. The seriousness of the accidents at unmanned level crossings could be understood from the fact that 66 percent of these accidents result in loss of human lives, said the railway release. A senior official of the Southern Railway said all accidents which occur at unmanned level crossings could be avoided if rail users show a bit of patience. That is why we have used the ttle stop, look and Proceed, said the official.
He said the video would be aired via CCTV installed in all railway stations across the country as well as through Doordarshan, the official media.