General Motors Honored for Contributions to Traffic Safety
LANSING, Mich (March 10, 2008) — General Motors is being honored for being a corporate and auto industry leader in promoting traffic safety issues by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Commission (GTSAC) at the group’s annual awards luncheon March 13 at the Kellogg Conference Center in East Lansing.
Each year the commission honors organizations, programs and individuals for outstanding contributions to traffic safety. The awards luncheon is part of the 13th Annual Michigan Traffic Safety Summit. Eleven traffic safety and four long-term awards are being presented.
General Motors (GM) will receive the Richard H. Austin Long-Term Traffic Safety Award, which is presented to individuals or organizations who have made significant long-term contributions to the field of traffic safety.
GM has made significant contributions in addressing key traffic safety concerns including safety belt use, child passenger safety (CPS) in and around vehicles and drunk driving through partnerships and collaboration, advocacy, financial support and voluntary time commitments to traffic safety organizations by company executives and employees.
When efforts were underway to upgrade Michigan’s seat belt law from a secondary to a primary law, GM led the collaborative efforts in its support. The company has also participated in media events to promote safety belt awareness.
As part of the national Safe Kids Buckle Up program, a partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide promoting CPS, GM has provided education and safety seats to parents in need. The partnership also has supported passage of stronger CPS laws. In addition, some GM employees are trained CPS technicians who volunteer at car seat check events. Under the Safe Kids Buckle Up program, nearly one million child seats have been checked across the nation for proper installation.
To help prevent impaired driving, GM matches employee contributions to MADD and has provided leadership on MADD's National Board of Directors.
The GTSAC was formed in 2002 to serve as the state’s forum for identifying key traffic safety challenges and developing and implementing plans to address those issues. The state agencies that comprise the GTSAC are: Community Health, Education, State, State Police, Transportation, Office of Services to the Aging, Office of Highway Safety Planning and the Office of the Governor. There are also three representatives of local government appointed by the Governor.
