For more information, contact
Rosemarie Kitchin rkitchin@mema.org
919/406-8811

Driving School Association of the Americas Endorses Anti-Lock Brake Technology

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - The Driving School Association of the Americas (DSAA) has endorsed anti-lock brake technology, recognizing the significant contribution anti-lock braking systems (ABS) bring to automotive safety.

DSAA also has commended the ABS Education Alliance for the curriculum it developed to teach drivers about the correct, effective use of the technology which is on approximately one in three of today's passenger vehicles.

DSAA president Keith Russell, who owns and operates the Bryant Driving Schools in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Maryland, said, "Education about this newer technology is critical to safe driving. The Alliance has done a superb job in providing tools for our driver education teachers to use in the classroom, on the driving range, and on streets and roads. Hands-on practice with ABS is an essential learning element for the technology's correct use, and the Alliance's guidelines provide step by step aids for teachers."

Russell said that DSAA had decreed November 1999, the month of its national convention in Las Vegas, to be National Automotive Technology Month.

The ABS Education Alliance curriculum includes classroom lessons, instructional video, student quizzes, worksheets, and transparencies. Not copyrighted, it can be downloaded in its entirety from the Alliance webpage, www.abs-education.org.

The Alliance also provides consumer literature about ABS's proper use at no charge, has a website with materials in English and Spanish, and works with other organizations to promote education about ABS use.

DSAA is a nonprofit organization representing 2,500 driving schools throughout the United States and Canada, and also has members in Austria, England, Germany, and Japan.

The ABS Education Alliance, a non-profit coalition of four anti-lock braking system manufacturers, Robert Bosch Corp., Continental Teves, Delphi Automotive, and TRW Automotive, works with industry, government, education and safety groups, and the media to educate drivers about the effective use of ABS in emergency braking and stopping situations.

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Detroit, September 28, 1999 - Keith Russell, president of the Driving School Association of the Americas (DSAA), points out to Rosemarie Kitchin, director of the ABS Education Alliance, the dashboard icon showing that the vehicle she is about to drive is ABS- equipped. The DSAA has officially endorsed anti-lock brake technology.

Rosemarie Kitchin is director of the ABS Education Alliance, which is a coalition of four major anti-lock brake manufacturers in the United States: Robert Bosch Corporation, Delphi Automotive Systems, Continental Teves and LucasVarity Automotive. It was formed in 1995 to educate the public on the safety benefits and proper use of anti-lock brake systems.

Kitchin, who also serves as director of communications for the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), has been an executive and lecturer in the automotive industry for 23 years.