GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Sept. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) presented its 2014 highway safety awards to two individuals who have made a national impact on issues related to impaired driving and highway safety and four programs focusing on the nation's most pressing highway safety problems at a luncheon as part of its Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids. The Allstate Foundation (www.allstatefoundation.org) and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (responsibility.org) sponsored the luncheon.

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GHSA presented its most prestigious honor, the James J. Howard Highway Safety Trailblazer Award, to the Honorable Kathleen Rice, District Attorney for Nassau County, New York, whose efforts to address impaired driving have had significant measurable impact within the county and opened up a national discussion on appropriate penalties for impaired driving fatalities. During her eight-and-a-half years in office, D.A. Rice has used her position to advance highway safety at every level, spearheading prevention programs for teenage drivers, working with state lawmakers to craft stronger traffic safety legislation, creating the county's first vehicular crimes bureau and piloting a new program of early intervention and intensive supervision for DUI offenders.

The Kathryn J.R. Swanson Public Service Award was presented to Joseph Farrow, Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol. Throughout his illustrious 35-year career with the agency, Commissioner Farrow has impacted highway safety at the local, regional, state and national levels. Not only has Commissioner Farrow helped the State of California achieve the lowest level of traffic-related fatalities since the federal government has recorded such data, he has also spearheaded efforts to advance highway safety across the country through his work with the International Association of Chiefs of Police and other organizations.

GHSA also presented four Peter K. O'Rourke Special Achievement Awards for outstanding highway safety accomplishments during the previous calendar year to the following individuals and programs:


    --  Tim Hollister of Hartford, Connecticut, is an environmental lawyer by
        day, and also a parent, author, and advocate who has taken an
        unthinkable personal tragedy and channeled it into an unrelenting drive
        to save other parents from the same fate. When Tim lost his 17-year-old
        son Reid in a crash in 2006, he parlayed his grief into action,
        participating on a task force to overhaul the state's graduated driver
        licensing (GDL) law, and eventually launching a national blog for
        parents of teen drivers, "From Reid's Dad," which, in nearly five years
        of publication, has become a go-to source for parents, driving schools,
        traffic safety organizations, and law enforcement. In 2013, a selection
        of posts from his blog was published in the new book, NOT SO FAST:
        Parenting Your Teen Through the Dangers of Driving, and Tim has
        continued his active schedule of presentations at national, regional and
        local conferences.
    --  AT&T's It Can Wait Campaign, a national initiative to combat the
        dangerous trend of distracted driving, expanded in 2013, engaging more
        than 1,500 organizations and companies, including three of AT&T's
        biggest competitors. The campaign had an impressive year, recently
        surpassing 5 million pledges, 1 billion impressions on social media and
        leading more than 4,000 events, activities and proclamations across the
        country.
    --  Judge John S. Kennedy and the Target 25 Program is an anti-DUI
        recidivism campaign in York County, Pennsylvania, that targets that 25
        percent of DUI offenders who are repeat or multiple offenders. Since the
        program's inception, the county has experienced a 90 percent reduction
        in the number of DUI offenders who were arrested for a subsequent DUI
        offense within the same year, and the percentage of all victims of crime
        in the county who were victims of DUI fell from 18 percent in 2011 to 6
        percent in 2013. In addition, state crash data reveals that York County
        crashes resulting in an injury or fatality due to a drinking driver fell
        21 percent in 2013 compared to the previous three-year average.
    --  The Parent's Supervised Driving Program, developed and published by the
        nonprofit Safe Roads Alliance, is a resource kit for parents and
        guardians who are helping their teens learn how to drive. Currently
        underway in 12 states, the program was actively distributed to more than
        160,000 families with permitted teen drivers in 2013 alone, and is
        expected to reach 1,000,000 families in the coming year. The Program is
        distributed to all parents through departments of motor vehicles (DMVs)
        in participating states at the time of teen permitting; this makes
        parents immediately aware that there is a need for guidance during this
        phase of the teen driver learning process. Corporate underwriting by
        State Farm(®) and Ford Motor Company enables The Parent's Supervised
        Driving Program to reach 100 percent of parents of teen learner's permit
        recipients in participating states, at no cost to families or to DMVs.

More information about the award recipients can be found at http://www.ghsa.org/html/meetings/awards/2014/14index.html. To request a photo from the awards presentation, contact Kara Macek at kmacek@ghsa.org, or call 202-262-4889. The full GHSA Annual Meeting schedule is available online.

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is a nonprofit association representing the highway safety offices of states, territories, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. GHSA provides leadership and representation for the states and territories to improve traffic safety, influence national policy, enhance program management and promote best practices. Its members are appointed by their Governors to administer federal and state highway safety funds and implement state highway safety plans. Contact GHSA at 202-789-0942 or visit www.ghsa.org. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GHSAhq or follow us on Twitter @GHSAHQ.

About The Allstate Foundation
 Established in 1952, The Allstate Foundation is an independent, charitable organization made possible by subsidiaries of The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL). Through partnerships with nonprofit organizations across the country, The Allstate Foundation brings the relationships, reputation and resources of Allstate to support innovative and lasting solutions that enhance people's well-being and prosperity. With a focus on teen safe driving and building financial independence for domestic violence survivors, The Allstate Foundation also promotes safe and vital communities; tolerance, inclusion, and diversity; and economic empowerment. For more information, visit www.AllstateFoundation.org.

About the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility
 The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org) is a leader in the fight to eliminate drunk driving and underage drinking and is funded by distillers to promote responsible decision-making regarding beverage alcohol. For more information, go to responsibility.org.

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SOURCE Governors Highway Safety Association