CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte-Area Transit System is hoping to put an end a troubling trend happening in Charlotte.
They say social media influencers -- people with thousands of social media followers some argue have the ability to ‘influence’ when it comes to trends -- are putting themselves in danger by posing on the tracks.
Scrolling through Instagram, it doesn’t take long to find pictures of people posing on the tracks, from Charlotte-based photographers, to fashion bloggers and even women doing yoga.
“That’s very illegal as well as very dangerous,” says Courtney Shultz with CATS.
This week her team posted a message to social media, hoping to spread a little influence of their own, by reminding everyone that posing on the tracks is considered trespassing.
“When we see those types of photos we do ask the user or owner of the account to take it down," Shultz said. "If they don’t, we do notify the police because that is evidence of trespassing, so there are consequences for that."
Reports show more than 340 people are killed while trespassing on tracks every year. Fortunately, none have been reported on the Lynx Blue Line yet. Shultz says she and her team are spreading awareness, hoping to keep it that way.
“We don’t want to see any fatalities come from this," Shultz said. "And beyond that we want to make sure we don’t see any copycats."