STOP! LOOK! LISTEN!
You have often seen this sign. It stands at unprotected railroad crossings to warn of danger. It says to everyone: Stop a moment before crossing!
Look up and down the tracks!
Listen for the engine!
If these three words were heeded, very few accidents would happen at the crossings.
Think what railroad tracks are for. They are made for trains to run over, and not for people to walk on. If people remembered this and kept off the tracks except at crossings, many lives would be saved.
Hard as it is to believe, it is a fact that over 5,000 people lose their lives each year by trespassing on railroad tracks. To trespass means to go where you have no right to go.
Did you ever see 5,000 people together at one time? They form a great crowd—a small army. If some terrible accident should happen, a great fire or an earthquake, and 5,000 people should all be killed at once, we should call it a catastrophe. The country would be filled with horror, and plans would be taken to prevent such a thing from ever happening again.
Yet when 5,000 people are killed one at a time, no one seems greatly impressed.
Don’t you think that something should be done about it?
Will you yourself stop, look, and listen?
Are these children thinking of Safety First?