Local Transportation Safety Company Invited to Governors Highway Safety Association Meeting

Farmingdale, N.J.: Heads Up! Safety, Incorporated, the award-winning roadside safety products company, announced today that it will be supporting the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and is showcasing its flagship traffic safety products at the GHSA’s Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, September 7-10, 2008. 

More than 450 federal, state, and private sector highway safety officials attended the 2007 annual meeting which focused on closing the gap on strategies and programs that have improved highway safety in other countries. This year’s theme “Turning Knowledge into Action” will focus on how highway safety research can translate into successful state programs.

Shayle Durkin, Farmingdale, New Jersey, CEO and founder of Heads Up! Safety, Incorporated will represent Heads Up! Safety at the conference, adding his own twist to the GHSA’s theme: “Turning Knowledge into Action and Inspired Visibility,” which, explains Durkin, came about after an almost tragic highway incident in 2006 that resulted in the Guardian™, an innovative automotive safety product consumer product now in production. 

Durkin, 37, Farmingdale, N.J., a father of five boys and a baby girl, describes that incident. “An SUV pulled out from in front of me in the far right hand lane. Suddenly a woman who had broken down in the same lane that I was in was standing right in front of me! As I screeched almost sideways to avoid hitting her, I literally said, ‘God there has to be a better way for people to protect themselves in these situations.’” 

By the time he successfully navigated over the bridge, having barely avoided this woman, he envisioned an early warning roadside safety product. 

The product incorporates a telescopic rod which extends a highly visible flag above the vehicle, and is attached to the vehicle with suction cups and a window bracket. A version which includes a GPS distress beacon with a strobe light is currently in development as well as a heavier grade product for industrial applications.

Heads Up! won five awards in Pittsburgh at INPEX (Invention and New Product Exposition), touted as the largest annual invention show in the country. An international panel of judges at INPEX awarded Heads Up! Safety Inc. a Bronze medal in the automotive category; a Gold medal in the Safety and Security - Industrial category; a Silver medal in the Safety and Security - Personal category; a Silver medal in Novelty and Specialty Gifts category, and finally, the Award for Excellence in Commercialization.

With the closing of peak summer driving, Heads Up! Safety is doubling its efforts to help preserve life and prevent injuries on American highways. The statistics are sobering. More than 140 drivers break down every minute in the U.S. alone. Statistically, one in four people will find themselves on the side of the road in a life threatening situation, making an auto repair or waiting for help. An estimated 3,000 or more of these drivers will die each year as a result of vehicle breakdowns because they were not visible to oncoming traffic until it was too late.
Heads Up! Safety addresses the traffic safety challenges that all drivers face with the award-winning product that guarantees the highest visibility of any automotive roadside safety product on the market today. It is convenient and it stores and installs easily. “Our intent is to showcase our product while influencing safety policy at the Governors conference. We are dedicated to saving lives with products that make safety, business, and consumer sense,” commented Mr. Durkin.

*The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is a nonprofit association representing the highway safety offices of states, territories, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. GHSA provides leadership and representation for the states and territories to improve traffic safety, influence national policy and enhance program management. Its members are appointed by their Governors to administer federal and state highway safety funds and implement state highway safety plans.

About Heads Up! Safety, Incorporated
Heads Up! Inc. is a privately held company based in New Jersey. The company has raised more than $400,000.00 to date. Heads Up! Safety, Inc. operates in the transportation safety industry to provide customers with innovative transportation safety products that alert drivers quickly of roadside hazards obscured from their immediate line of sight. The Guardian™ is the flagship product designed for individuals or light fleet vehicles. The Sentinel™ is a product for the larger vehicles in any fleet, providing the early warning visibility that every work zone needs. For further information on Heads Up! Safety, visit www.buyheadsup.com or call Shayle Durkin at 1-877-397-7233.