Each State to Receive Report Card Showing Deadly Gaps in Key Highway Safety Laws

  Safety Advocates to Urge State Action in 2006 to Tighten Teen Driving,
    Drunk Driving, Motorcycle Helmet, Seat Belt and Booster Seat Laws
                    to Curb Death and Injury Epidemic

  WHAT:    As state legislatures across the nation prepare to open their
           2006 legislative sessions and as traffic crashes continue to
           cause nearly 43,000 deaths and 3 million injuries annually,
           Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety will hold a news conference
           to unveil its "2006 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws:
           Players, Politics and Progress."

           Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia will be issued
           a report card with a safety rating of Green (Good), Amber
           (Caution -- needs improvement) or Red (Danger -- state is falling
           behind) based on their passage of 14 essential highway safety
           laws related to teen driving, drunk driving, motorcycle helmets,
           seat belts and child booster seats.

           This progress report will include the latest state-by-state data
           on traffic deaths and related economic losses -- a so-called
           "Crash Tax" on taxpayers and the economy.  Advocates for Highway
           and Auto Safety will call on each Governor and state legislature
           to close the dangerous gaps in their laws during the upcoming
           2006 legislative session.

  WHEN:    THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time

  WHERE:   National Press Club (Holeman Lounge), 529 14th St., NW (13th
           Fl.), Washington, DC

  WHO:     -- Judith Lee Stone, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto
              Safety
           -- Jackie Gillan, Vice President, Advocates for Highway and Auto
              Safety
           -- Christine Guarino, a Germantown, Maryland mother whose two
              sons' lives were saved by their child safety seats in a crash
              with a Mack truck.
           -- Mary Jagim, R.N., an emergency room trauma nurse from Fargo,
              North Dakota.
           -- Georges Benjamin, M.D., Executive Director, American Public
              Health Association
           -- Alan Maniss, State Farm Insurance Companies

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (http://www.saferoads.org/) is an alliance of insurance companies and consumer, health, safety and law enforcement organizations that work together to advance state and national highway and vehicle safety policies.