PRESS RELEASE

AAA Picks Top Cities For Safety Excellence

    ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 8 -- AAA today recognized 139
U.S. cities for traffic safety excellence as part of its first
Community Traffic Safety Program.
    Grand Awards go to Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., and Roseville,
Calif., the winners from among 1,048 participating cities representing
all regions of the country.  This is AAA's highest recognition for
cities with outstanding traffic crash prevention programs and casualty
records.
    "The Community Traffic Safety Program replaces and broadens the
scope of AAA's 57-year-old Pedestrian Protection Program in an effort
to emphasize a community's total traffic safety efforts," said Mark
Edwards, managing director of AAA Traffic Safety.
    Grosse Pointe Farms was selected in the 10,000 to 50,000
population category.  The suburban Detroit city, which has not had a
pedestrian death in six years, earned this year's highest program
rating.  City activities include a televised bicycle-helmet promotion,
school and school-bus safety patrols and a "School's Open: Drive
Carefully" campaign.
    Roseville, near Sacramento, is the Grand Award winner among cities
with a population of 50,000 to 200,000.  It has not had a pedestrian
death in four years and significantly reduced the number of pedestrian
injuries last year.  Roseville's safety activities include frequent
DUI checkpoints, alcohol-free graduation activities, bike rodeos and a
safety fair.
    Awards of Excellence went to 16 cities that achieved top
performances in traffic safety activities and death and injury records
within their population categories.  The largest city to win the award
was Anaheim, Calif.
    Twenty-five cities won Awards of Merit for demonstrating combined
achievement in pedestrian safety records and traffic safety
activities.  San Jose, Calif., and Seattle, Wash., were the two
largest cities to win this award.
    "AAA's safety efforts have helped reduce the number of pedestrian
fatalities from 15,500 in 1937 to 5,585 in 1995," said Edwards.  "This
is all the more significant when compared to the sevenfold increase in
the number of motor vehicle registrations since 1937, the 100 percent
rise in the population and sixfold jump in motor vehicle travel."
    Winners of the 1996 Community Traffic Safety Program were selected
by an independent panel of traffic safety experts from the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Institute of Transportation
Engineers; Fairfax County, Va., Police Department; National Commission
Against Drunk Driving; and AAA Carolinas.
    AAA is a not-for-profit federation of 102 motor clubs with more
than 1,000 offices providing more than 39 million members in the
United States and Canada with travel, insurance, financial and
auto-related services.

CONTACT: Jerry Cheske, Mike Morrissey, American Automobile
Association, 407-444-8000, or email, mmorrissey@national.aaa.com