Design a Poster, Save A Life

Trains remain pretty much the safest way to travel, but there will always be the dangers associated with living near a railroad track.

So with testing of the Capital MetroRail system starting on Feb. 12, Austin ISD, Leander ISD and Capital Metro are joining forces to launch a new rail safety campaign. As part of the Stay off the Tracks! program, they want local kids to help them by designing a new rail safety poster.

The competition is open to grades K-12 at schools within half a mile of the new rail tracks The three grand prize winning posters will be distributed to all public schools in the Austin, Leander, Pflugerville and Round Rock ISDs within two miles of the track, as well as private schools and local libraries. See after the break for the full press release, including entry and prize details.

Of course, they could just borrow this nightmarish PSA from Britain's Network Rail:

Seriously. Stay away from the tracks.

As part of Capital Metro’s and its community partners’ ongoing rail safety outreach leading up to the debut of MetroRail, Capital Metro, Austin ISD and Leander ISD have launched a rail safety poster contest. Students at twenty school campuses that are located within ½ mile of the MetroRail tracks are eligible to enter the contest by submitting a poster design that encourages rail safety.

One first place prize and one second place prize will be awarded to grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12. First place prizes are laptop computers donated by Dell, Inc. Second place prizes are running shoes donated by RunTex.

Additionally, three grand prize posters will be chosen, one each representing the elementary, middle and high school level campuses. Grand prize-winning posters will be reproduced and distributed to all AISD and LISD schools, and also to the Round Rock ISD and Pflugerville ISD schools located within two miles of the tracks. As supplies allow, the posters will also be sent to local public libraries and private schools within two miles of the tracks.

The contest builds upon community outreach that has been ongoing for almost two years, including school presentations to more than 33,000 students, collaborations with both the Girl Scouts of Central Texas and the Boy Scouts of America Capitol Area Council, a locally-produced PSA that is heard on every AISD school bus, and creation of a nationally-recognized rail safety Web site, stayoffthetracks.com. Capital Metro and a community-based volunteer coalition called GROW (Grassroots Rail Outreach Working group) have worked together to make rail safety a priority.

The timing of the contest coincides with an important milestone of Capital MetroRail: the protracted “dress rehearsal” of the system, when MetroRail trains will be operating during morning and afternoon rush hours throughout the 32-mile line, to test every aspect of the system, fine-tune the schedule, and train the MetroRail engineers. This testing period begins Feb. 12, and continues through March until the opening of the line.

Capital MetroRail trains are faster and quieter than traditional freight trains.