Fwd: URGENT: Important Highway Safety Presser Tomorrow

Attached for your use is an embargoed copy of Advocates 2016 Roadmap Report that will be released tomorrow at 1 p.m. EST. I hope you can join us at the National Press Club or by webcast.  Please contact Beth Weaver for more information at 301.814.4088 orbeth_weaver@verizon.net

Thanks, Jackie

MEDIA ADVISORY

IMPORTANT HIGHWAY SAFETY EVENT TOMORROW

Highway Deaths Expected to Have Dramatically Increased in 2015,

Yet States are Missing Lifesaving Laws and Legislators are Missing in Action

Report Rates States on 15 Commonsense Traffic Safety Laws That Prevent Crashes,

Save Lives, Reduce Injuries and Contain Costs

WHAT:           NEWS CONFERENCE – Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety releases its thirteenth annual report card grading all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their performance in adopting 15 basic highway safety laws on adult and child occupant protection, impaired and distracted driving, and teen driving. The2016 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws will focus on the “missing laws” and “missing leadership” in state capitals despite a projected eight percent increase in deaths during the first half of 2015 compared to 2014. In 2015, there were fewer optimal traffic safety laws passed in state legislatures than in the history of the publication of the Roadmap Report. Advocates will also unveil a list of the “best and worst” states, though no state has adopted all 15 of the optimal recommended laws.

In 2014, there were nearly 33,000 people killed and 2.3 million more injured in motor vehicle crashes. The steep economic toll amounts to $836 billion in comprehensive costs annually. These figures are expected to climb while legislative action is plummeting. 

WHEN:           Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 1 p.m. EST

WHERE:        National Press Club, Murrow Room, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

WHO:             Jacqueline Gillan, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

Mark Rosekind, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (invited)

J. Thomas Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery County, MD Police Department.  Chief Manger’s Department recently suffered the tragic death of Officer Noah Leotta who was killed by a repeat offender drunk driver while serving on a special DUI assignment.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association (APHA)

Tammy and Paul Kalp (Dover, DE), Paul was involved in a motorcycle crash in 2012.  He was not wearing a helmet and sustained serious injuries including the loss of the use of the right side of his body and a traumatic brain injury.

Joan Claybrook, Consumer Co-Chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, President Emeritus of Public Citizen, and former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Bill Vainisi, Insurance Co-Chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Allstate Insurance Company