FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 13, 2006

CONTACT: Cathy Gillen
(443) 463-4449 or
cathy@cathygillen.com

MAKE ROADS SAFE EXPANDS IN THE U.S.
London-Based International Road Safety Campaign Names North American Directors

(Washington, DC) - In an effort to raise even greater awareness of the need to make road safety a priority by both governments and the private sector worldwide, MAKE ROADS SAFE has recently added to its North American staff.

Bella Dinh-Zarr was recently named Director, North America and Cathy Gillen has been named Director, North America Communications.

Dinh-Zarr is an accomplished public health and transportation safety professional with a unique blend of government, academic, community and private organization experience. She brings more than 10 years experience to MAKE ROADS SAFE. Prior to joining MAKE ROADS SAFE, Dinh-Zarr was the National Director of Traffic Safety Policy for AAA. She has also worked at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Texas Transportation Institute, the University of Texas School of Public Health, and the Institute of Child Health in London.

Gillen brings to MAKE ROADS SAFE more than 15 years experience in highway safety public relations and policy. Through the years she has worked with dozens of traffic safety organizations to promote their safety messages and further their agendas including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Governors Highway Safety Association and Ford Motor Company.

"We are thrilled to have Bella and Cathy on-board," said Saul Billingsley, campaign coordinator. "With their winning combination of more than 25 years of experience in policy, research and public relations in traffic safety, they will make an excellent team to help MAKE ROADS SAFE promote its goals in the U.S. and Canada."

Dinh-Zarr and Gillen's top priorities will be signing on new supporters in North America. Current North American supporters include the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Governors Highway Safety Association, Safe Kids Worldwide, and the National Association of Women Highway Safety Leaders, among many others.

An additional key focus of their attention over the next few months will be preparing for the first United Nation's Road Safety Week April 23-29, 2007. This week will highlight traffic safety activities in communities and raise awareness and support for the prevention of road traffic injuries worldwide.

MAKE ROADS SAFE is an international campaign to put global road traffic injuries on the G8 and UN sustainable development agendas. The campaign is led by a coalition of road safety and public health organizations.

MAKE ROADS SAFE is campaigning for:

• Action by the G8 and a United Nations summit to agree on high level political commitment to action on global road deaths;
• A $300 million, 10 year, global Action Plan to improve road safety in developing countries; and
• Making roads safer by ensuring that at least 10 percent of development budgets for roads provided by the World Bank and other major lenders is dedicated to road safety.