HOUSTON, June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — The Woodlands Financial Group announced today their sponsorship of safe driving app, SAFE 2 SAVE’s, Houston-wide competition to promote undistracted driving. Houstonians can compete for the chance to win prizes totaling $9,000.

SAFE 2 SAVE is a free mobile app that rewards users points for undistracted driving that they can redeem at local businesses for free items and discounts. The app is greatly supported by their title sponsor Memorial Hermann Life Flight across Greater Houston.

The competition will be open to all Greater Houston residents 18 years or older, running from July 10 until Sept. 23 at 12:01am. A Disney Cruise for four or $5,000 cash will be awarded to the winner who will be selected at random from competitors who meet the eligibility requirements, have accumulated 400 points in the competition and redeemed points at least one time during the competition.

Weekly winners will be selected at random on Wednesdays to win a $200 gift card for gas. Any individual that has redeemed points between the start of the competition to the current draw date is eligible. The more times an individual redeems, the more chances there are to win.

Houston Assistant Chief of Police, Henry Gaw, and Sheriff Ed Gonzales showed support today to SAFE 2 SAVE. According to one study done by Zendrive, Houston is the most distracted city in the nation. SAFE 2 SAVE’s mission is to turn the trend on distracted driving in Houston.

“We are thankful for the support from HPD, Houston city officials, and ISDs in the Houston area for spreading this mission,” said Marci Corry, Owner and CEO of SAFE 2 SAVE. “Distracted driving is an unfortunate epidemic that is preventable and we have great hope for change. Let’s all drive change in the Houston area and motivate undistracted driving. Each life matters.”

Users join the competition by downloading the SAFE 2 SAVE app in the App Store + Google Play Store and entering the competition code TWFG.

Memorial Hermann Life Flight is title sponsor for SAFE 2 SAVE in the Greater Houston area. MH cares deeply about injury prevention and proactively driving change, creating conversation about the epidemic of distracted driving.

https://safe2save.org         https://twfg.com/

Media Contact:
Courtney Scioli
832.797.1468
[email protected]
https://safe2save.org

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SOURCE The Woodlands Financial Group

NORTHBROOK, Illinois, June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Brownsville, Texas, has the safest drivers in America for the second year in a row, according to the 2019 Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report^®.ⁱ Released in advance of July Fourth, the deadliest day on U.S. roadsⁱⁱ according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the 15th annual report aims to start a national dialogue around the critical issue of roadway safety, celebrating the top-ranked cities’ drivers as an example for other communities.

The America’s Best Drivers Report ranks the 200 largest U.S. cities by collision frequency based on Allstate claims data to determine which have the safest drivers. For the first time, Allstate also tapped into its claims data to uncover the “Risky Roads” with the most collisions in the bottom 15 cities to help those drivers be extra vigilant, while also advocating for infrastructure improvements.

“The goal of the America’s Best Drivers Report is to make our roads safer and ultimately save lives,” said Ken Rosen, Allstate’s Chief Claims Officer. “Each of us needs to ask how we can do our part in our day-to-day lives and for our communities. And beyond that, this country needs to come together to address pressing safety issues, such as rebuilding our roadway infrastructure to reduce risky conditions on America’s roads.”

These are the 15 safest driving cities in America:

To mark the report’s 15th anniversary, Allstate for the first time studied its collision claim counts for streets in the 15 bottom-ranked cities to determine which roads Allstate data reveals to have more crashes. Encouraging drivers to take extra caution traversing these “Risky Roads,” the addition also urges Americans to advocate for roadway safety issues having to do with infrastructure, distractions and traffic flow.ⁱⁱⁱ

Each year, Allstate and industry resource IIHS partner to urge all drivers to be especially safe leading up to July Fourth.

“Whether it’s a holiday trip or a routine drive to work, safety should always be along for the ride,” said IIHS president Dr. David Harkey. “The best drivers buckle up on every trip, obey the speed limit and never drive while impaired or distracted. If everyone followed these rules, we would have fewer crashes, injuries and deaths every day of the year.”

From taking a stand on mandatory seat belts in the 1960s to advocating for air bags to be standard in all vehicles in the 1970s, Allstate has a history of leading the charge to make the country’s roads safer. Since the first America’s Best Drivers Report in 2005, Allstate has continued to tackle this vital community issue:

• X the TXT^® (2009): A national Allstate movement to raise awareness of the dangers of texting while driving. In its 10th year, the program has resulted in millions of families and individuals pledging to put their phones down while behind the wheel.
• Graduated Driver Licensing Law (GDL) (2009) & Save 11^® (2010): Allstate led the push for national GDL legislation to save an average of 11 teen lives per day from car crashes. The goal of reducing teen crashes was achieved by 2012, and work continues on state-level GDL advocacy.
• Drivewise^® (2010): Allstate launched its innovative telematics program to provide real-time driving feedback and reward safe driving, and the company was the first to offer telematics on a mobile platform when the Drivewise app was introduced in 2014. Drivewise rewards are based on proven indicators of safe driving, including braking, speed, time of day and, in some states, mileage – the safer you drive, the more you can earn.

The America’s Best Drivers Report has evolved over the past 15 years, including standardizing cities’ rankings when accounting for population density and average annual precipitation, and using Drivewise telematics data to analyze the correlation between hard braking and collisions. During that time, there have been many notable developments nationally and locally:

• Safer roads: U.S. car collisions have decreased overall despite increases in 2015 and 2016.^iv
• Holding steady: The average driver in top-ranked cities still gets in a collision about once every 15 years.
• Winners circle: Only five cities have earned the No. 1 spot, and all are west of the Mississippi River: Cedar Rapids, Iowa (2005), Sioux Falls, South Dakota (2006-09, 2012), Fort Collins, Colorado (2010-11, 2013-14), Brownsville, Texas (2016, 2018-19), and Kansas City, Kansas (2015, 2017).
• Coast-to-coast: Generally, top-ranked cities are less densely populated and in the Western U.S., while many bottom-ranked ones were established earlier in U.S. history, which often means they have older infrastructure.
• Trending: With the highest city population, New York is on an upward trend, from 173rd in 2005 to 111th this year, and the 2019 No. 1 safest driving city, Brownsville, Texas, also achieved major improvements after ranking 49th in 2005.

Understanding the risks that can cause crashes and impact city drivers’ safety is critical. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, preventable human factors, like drunk, distracted and drowsy driving, speeding and failure to use safety features, contribute to 94% of crashes.^v The Allstate Blog has tips to help keep drivers and their communities safe:

• Always keep your eyes on the road, stay vigilant and minimize distractions like cellphones.
• Obey the speed limit and give yourself enough time to safely get where you’re going.
• Ensure everyone in the vehicle is buckled up on every trip.
• Never drive while impaired by alcohol or drugs.
• Leave plenty of distance between you and other vehicles, including changing lanes when vehicles are stopped on the side of the road. The faster you’re going, the more room you need to stop safely.
• Be sure to have an emergency roadside safety kit with caution signs and flares, and have a roadside service lined up for when you need a tow. Allstate Roadside Assistance provides options for coverage whether you’re in need now, want to add it to your auto policy or you’re interested in roadside membership.

Check out the newly redesigned Allstate.com/BestDriversReport for an interactive map and full results for this year, as well as historical data. To join the community safe-driving conversation, like and follow the Good Driving Starts Young Facebook page.

ⁱ The Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report^® is the result of an in-depth examination of company auto claims data to determine the likelihood that drivers in America’s 200 most populous cities will experience a vehicle collision compared to the national average. According to Allstate claims data, the average driver in the U.S. will experience a collision once every 10.57 years. This year, Allstate researchers analyzed property damage claims reported during the two-year period of January 2016 to December 2017. The report defines a collision as any auto crash resulting in a property damage claim and uses U.S. Census Bureau data to determine America’s 200 largest cities. Hard-braking data is based on customers voluntarily enrolled in Allstate’s Drivewise^® telematics program in 2016-2017. Some cities and their surrounding suburbs in the full 200 Best Drivers rankings are excluded from hard-braking analysis due to limited measurable Drivewise data or because Drivewise was not available (California, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas). Allstate’s auto policies represent approximately 10% of all U.S. auto policies, making this report a realistic snapshot of what’s happening on America’s roadways. The Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report is produced solely to boost the country’s discussion about safe driving and to increase awareness of the importance of being safe and attentive behind the wheel. The report is not used to determine auto insurance rates.

Allstate found a correlation between hard braking and collision frequency. Drivers in cities with fewer hard-braking events per 1,000 miles tend to have fewer property damage claims. Nationally, the average American driver will experience approximately 19 hard-braking events for every 1,000 miles driven.

ⁱⁱ Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Fatality Facts 2017, https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/yearly-snapshot

ⁱⁱⁱ “Risky Roads” were determined by analyzing Allstate auto collision claim data related to driving in traffic with other motorists on roads within city limits during the two-year period of January 2016 to December 2017. Roads outside of the bottom 15 ranked cities in the 2019 Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report were not analyzed. 

^iv National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2018

^v National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. DOT Announces Steep Increase in Roadway Deaths Based on 2015 Early Estimates and Convenes First Regional Summit to Drive Traffic Safety Behavior Changes 

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/927789/M_10_2019_Best_Drivers_Top_Cities_Infographic.jpg 
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PDF – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/927788/M_5_2019_Best_Drivers_Media_Shareable_Best_Drivers_Report.pdf?p=original 
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/378670/allstate_insurance_company_logo.jpg

SOURCE Allstate

PLANO, Texas, June 24, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) today announced that Cooper Ericksen will be promoted to group vice president, product planning and strategy, effective Aug. 5. He will be responsible for product planning, pricing, cross carline technology and advanced product strategy.

Ericksen has been with Toyota since 1991, serving most recently as vice president, TMNA cross carline, alt fuels and Lexus product planning. His previous roles have included vice president of marketing for the Lexus Division, and vice president and corporate manager of vehicle marketing and communications at TMNA. Ericksen also has experience working in several of Toyota’s regional offices, including Central Atlantic, San Francisco, Portland and Boston.

He will report to Bob Carter, executive vice president, sales.

Ericksen will replace Andrew Coetzee, who plans to retire on Aug. 2 after 31 years of service to Toyota. Coetzee’s vast contributions to Toyota include helping to form, and being the first leader of, the Product Planning group, which strengthened the collaboration between the longer-range focus of Advanced Product Strategy and Vehicle Planning.

The following manufacturing changes will take effect on July 1, 2019:

Mike Bafan will take on a new assignment as chairman of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Baja California (TMMBC) and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Guanajuato (TMMGT) in addition to his responsibility as president, Toyota de Mexico. He currently serves as president of TMMBC and TMMGT.

Oscar Quijada will be promoted to president, TMMBC, from his current position of vice president, manufacturing.

Francisco Garcia will be promoted to president, TMMGT, from his current position of vice president, manufacturing.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

Media Contact:

Karen Nielsen
469-292-2659
[email protected]

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/927739/2019_Cooper_Ericksen_01.jpg 
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/439685/Toyota_Corp_Red_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Toyota Motor North America

ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin, June 23, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Alexander Rossi dominated today’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America, leading every lap but one to crush the 23-car NTT IndyCar Series field for his second win of 2019, bringing him within seven points of the drivers’ championship lead.  Honda increased its lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship contest while scoring its fifth win of the season.

Starting second, Rossi swept across the nose of Honda-powered pole qualifier Colton Herta to complete an outside pass as the pair entered the tight right-hand Turn 3 on the opening lap, and never looked back  after taking the lead.  Once in front, Rossi continued to build his advantage throughout the 55-lap event, heading the field by eight seconds just prior to the first round of pit stops; building that margin to 16 seconds by the second round, and eventually romping to a winning margin of more than 28 seconds in the caution-free event. 

Rossi surrendered the lead only once, during the final round to pit stops on Lap 40, to fellow Honda driver Graham Rahal, who elected to run one additional lap prior to making his final stop.

For his part, Rahal spent the second half of the race in a multi-car fight over the third place.  While Will Power ran a relatively uncontested second for the final 20 laps, Rahal battled championship leader Josef Newgarden and fellow Honda drivers Herta, James Hinchcliffe, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist for the final podium spot.  With Herta on a different tire strategy throughout the race, the order shuffled several times in the closing laps before Newgarden held on to third by 1.5 seconds over Rahal.

Recovering from opening lap contact and a spin that dropped him to the rear of the field, defending series champion Dixon fought his way back to a fifth-place finish, followed by his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Rosenqvist.  A slide in Turn 5 from Herta on Lap 53 cost both the rookie and Hinchcliffe, as Hinchcliffe finished finished seventh and Herta eighth.

Social media content and video links from this weekend’s Honda IndyCar Series action from Road America are available on the HPD Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) channels.  Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV. 

Next
After a run of six races in the last seven weeks, the NTT IndyCar Series now takes its first extended break of the season, with two weekends off before resuming July 14 with the Honda Indy Toronto, held on the Exhibition Place street circuit in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Quotes
Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started second, finished first; second IndyCar win of 2019; remains second in the drivers’ championship standings, closing to within seven points of the lead: “These guys [on his team], what they did overnight after seeing what we were missing yesterday in qualifying, was phenomenal. To turn things around today was sensational. Huge thanks to the NAPA Andretti Honda team.  Man, I mean, after thinking about it a bit, I think that was the best race car today I’ve ever driven.  It was a win we needed.  We’ve been there or thereabouts [with a string of podium results], but the other guys were getting the upper hand on us.  To be able to go out and win a race the way we did [today] stated our intentions [to fight for the championship].”

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) Started fifth, finished fourth: “It’s just super competitive right now.  Josef [Newgarden] and I, I think we both pushed as hard as we could the whole time [fighting for third place]. I don’t think I’ve driven 55 harder laps around this place before.  But in this series, it’s just that way.  You’ve got to push all the time.  I’ve very pleased for the Gehl team to come out of here with fourth.  I thought we might be able to come out of here with a podium; I think we were a little bit quicker than Josef, but just getting the [pass] done was a little hard.  Pleased with where we finished, but still have a little more work to do. Onward we go to Toronto.”

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started 12^th, fell to last after opening lap contact and spin; finished fifth: “I think had we not had that issue at the start, getting turned around [following contact at Turn 5] and losing 10 or so seconds, we may have been fighting for the podium today with the PNC Bank car. We had to kind of work our way back to the front all day. It is what it is, though. It happened and all you can do is put your head down and start to gain back that time. It’s just been one of those years to this point. You just have to keep your head down and keep working hard. Congrats to [Alexander] Rossi and good job by Honda.”

Ted Klaus (president, Honda Performance Development) on today’s victory for Honda and Alexander Rossi at Road America: “It was an amazing result for the Powered by Honda teams. The power of Honda was clearly evident in a dominant performance by Andretti Autosport and Alexander, who earned the victory today, which he has deserved for a while now. I also want to commend gritty performances by both Scott [Dixon] and Colton [Herta] under adverse circumstances, and we don’t want to lose sight of an inspiring drive by Graham [Rahal] during Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s weekend of celebration marking the 25th anniversary of Honda in IndyCar competition. Next up is the Honda Indy Toronto, and we’ll be looking to duplicate today’s results there.”

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/927252/abbott_RoadAm_0619_8455.jpg

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/83597/honda_performance_development__inc__honda_racing_logo.jpg  

SOURCE Honda Racing/HPD