8^th March, 2001

Nominations are now open for the 2001 Windscreens O’Brien Awards, to be announced later this year.

Introduced by the company in 1992 to recognise outstanding achievements in road safety, they have since become Australia’s longest-running automotive safety awards.

Schools, government organisations, community groups and individuals are expected to participate in the Community division of the 2001 awards.

Automotive manufacturers, importers, component and after-market suppliers will compete for the Industry prize.

Windscreens O’Brien chief executive officer Ian Collinson said the 2001 awards would offer further encouragement to those taking positive steps to reduce road trauma.

"The awards play a vital role in recognising the efforts of the community and the automotive industry to make our roads safer places," said Mr Collinson.

"Over the years we have catalogued more than 400 initiatives in this area. We expect 2001 will generate many more quality ideas."

Initiatives are considered by an independent judging panel of representatives from the automotive industry, motoring media, the public health system and motoring clubs.

Recent community winners have included the NRMA for its young driver education program (1999) and an innovative rodeo-based seat belt campaign initiated by community road safety councils in NSW’s Great Lakes region (1998). Previous industry awards have been won by Mercedes-Benz (twice), Volvo (twice) Holden, Toyota, BMW and Saab.

Nomination forms are available from Windscreens O’Brien branches, authorised dealers, or the official Windscreens O’Brien Awards website: www.windscreensobrien.com.au

The site also contains a searchable database of all previous nominations received for the awards and profiles of past winners.