Google Plans to Add Railroad Crossings to Its Maps Application

— -- A potentially life-saving new feature marking the location of railroad crossings will be integrated into Google Maps in the United States.

Google will work in tandem with the Federal Railroad Administration to bring the new feature to the search giant's map application, a Google representative told ABC New today.

"We're happy to help the Federal Railroad Administration as we're always looking for new ways to make maps useful to our users," a statement from Google said.

It was unclear when the integration would be completed, however a report in the New York Times said along with marked crossings, users can expect audio and visual alerts when the app's navigation feature leads them toward a railroad crossing.

With approximately 130,000 public and 85,000 private crossings, integrating the data has the potential to help prevent accidents at crossings, which rose by 9 percent last year, according to the New York Times.

The number of accidents has largely trended downward over the years, going from about 12,000 per year in the 1970s to around 2,000 in recent times. By integrating technology, the hope is that number will continue to decrease.