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OLI History
Operation Lifesaver
started in Idaho in 1972
when the national
average of collisions at
highway-rail grade
crossings exceeded
12,000 annually. A
six-week public
awareness campaign
called "Operation
Lifesaver" was sponsored
by the office of
Governor Cecil Andrus,
the Idaho Peace Officers
and Union Pacific
Railroad as a one-time,
one-state initiative.
During the campaign’s
first year, Idaho’s
crossing-related
fatalities dropped by 43
percent. The next year,
the Operation Lifesaver
campaign spread to
Nebraska, where their
collision rate was
reduced by 26 percent.
Kansas and Georgia
experienced similar
success the following
year.
Between 1978 and 1986, while Operation Lifesaver operated under the auspices of the National Safety Council, all 49 continental states started independent Operation Lifesaver programs. In 1986, the national program was released from NSC and incorporated as a national, non-profit, 501(c)(3) educational organization. The founding sponsors of Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI), the Railway Progress Institute, Amtrak and the Association of American Railroads continue to serve on OLI's 11 member
board of directors.Today, Operation Lifesaver programs are active in 49 states nationwide.
Copyright © 2009 Operation Lifesaver, Inc. All rights reserved. Educational use only permitted. No part of these materials may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means for any commercial purpose without permission in writing from Operation Lifesaver, Inc.