NJ Transit presented two rather blunt public service announcements Friday with a simple plea: "Stay off the tracks." The goal is to reduce railroad fatalities.

Titled "You Don't Win" and "You're Dead," the ads that will begin running this weekend on broadcast and cable networks in Philadelphia and New York give dramatic, firsthand accounts from police and transit workers involved in recent fatalities and from the families of people who were killed.

Three deaths last fall were apparently part of a widespread problem on railroads in the region — people trespassing on tracks who are accidentally killed and those who enter the danger zone to commit suicide. In the last two years, at least 91 people have been killed by trains on NJ Transit and SEPTA lines, officials have said.

The videos can be found here: http://www.njtransit.com/rg/rg_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=SafetyTo

Always expect a train; look both ways prior to crossing the tracks

Remove earphones and end all cell-phone conversations prior to crossing. More than half of train versus pedestrian incidents between 2004 and 2011 involved headphone use (Lichenstein, Smith, Ambrose, & Moody, 2012)

Never try to “beat” the train when crossing and you note a train coming

Only cross in those areas designated for pedestrian crossing

Remain drug and alcohol free if you decide to cross the railroad as both can greatly impair your judgment

Source:

Lichenstein, R., Smith, D., Ambrose, J., & Moody, L. (2012). Headphone use and pedestrian injury and death in the United States: 2004-2011. Injury Prevention. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2011-040161