
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993                   TAG: 9305200177
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

DMV BEGINS PROGRAM TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS

The Division of Motor Vehicles will start a community traffic safety program with noon luncheons Tuesday at Bristol's Piccadilly Cafeteria and May 26 at the Wytheville Holiday Inn.

District Transportation Safety Coordinator Danny Dean said the statewide initiative will focus on preventing impaired driving and promoting the use of safety belts and child safety seats.

"The `101 days of summer' from Memorial Day to Labor Day have historically been a period of dramatic increases in the numbers of crashes and fatalities on Virginia's highways," he said.

From May to September last year, there were 43 traffic deaths in the 17 Southwest Virginia counties of DMV's District 1. There had been 47 in 1991 and 64 in 1990.

Although the numbers are going down, Dean said the goal of the program is "to help bring this number down even lower by making safety information available to law enforcement agencies, businesses and community groups in Southwest Virginia."

Further information is available by calling Jamie Smyth at 228-8698 in Wytheville.

- Southwest bureau

by CNB