Buffalo. NY (WKBW-TV)
Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard and members of the PX20 Coalition is inviting the media to attend a local observance of "National Drunk-Drugged Driving Prevention Month in which strategies will be unveiled in helping make this holiday season a safer one. Highlights will include a demonstration of the new interlock systems recently mandated for drunken driving offenders; an unveiling of a holiday billboard campaign; and a rundown of events and strategies like "Project Sticker Shock and First Night Buffalo.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, America's roadways are now seeing lower fatality rates the likes of which have not been seen in this country for decades. However 30,000 lives are still being lost on our roadways and about one third of them are alcohol related.
Our partners in the local media are crucial in the effort to giving the general population the information they may need to make safer and healthier choices. Our friends in government that set policy and legislation and choose to support prevention efforts are indispensable if we are going to succeed in further decreasing destructive behaviors like drinking and driving.
Px20 is the coordinating council of prevention service providers formed as part of implementing the "Comprehensive Prevention Plan: Erie County Department of Mental Health 2009-2012" to enhance coordinated, collaborative prevention activities in Erie County.
"Px" is shorthand for "prevention", while "20" places the group's focus in the 21st century by allowing continuing initiatives to be labeled Px2010, Px2011, and so on.
The Px20 group is a direct outcome of a year-long process initiated by the Erie County Department of Mental Health (which oversees most prevention funding in Erie County, New York) to develop a multi-year comprehensive prevention plan that incorporates data-driven decision making and evidence-based practices into a local framework.
