PITTSBURGH, PA. (March 2, 2007) — State Farm® and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission today unveiled a 3-year partnership to enhance highway safety with the State Farm Safety Patrol program. This program employs a fleet of dedicated vehicles to provide first-responder services to Pennsylvania Turnpike motorists.

Representatives of the two organizations made a joint announcement this morning at the Turnpike’s Mon-Fayette Expressway Project Office in Duquesne, Pa. After brief remarks, officials unveiled the bold, red-and-white safety patrol vehicles now on active duty across the toll road.

“By entering into this unique partnership with State Farm, the Pennsylvania Turnpike further enhances safety and peace-of-mind for the more than 186 million motorists who annually drive our toll road,” said Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier. “This affiliation is further proof that we are dedicated to our edict, ‘you’re never alone on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.’ We’re proud to team up with State Farm — a firm known for its commitment to highway safety — as our partner in this innovative joint venture.”

The State Farm Safety Patrol includes 28 branded, Turnpike-owned and operated vehicles staffed by Turnpike employees who provide roadside assistance for Turnpike motorists. The State Farm Safety Patrol:

• responds to accidents/incidents;
• provides traffic control for scene stabilization;
• delivers an initial maintenance response (debris clean up, spill control, etc.);
• communicates with the Turnpike Operations Center and other responders regarding the incident’s nature and severity;
• supplies critical incident-scene reconnaissance to determine the emergency resources needed to respond;
• patrols the roadway, acting as an extra set of eyes and ears to identify and report problems; and
• renders customer assistance.

Other benefits of the program include reduced accidents, quicker removal of road debris, a boosted sense of security for travelers and fewer calls for assistance from the highway patrol.

“Part of State Farm’s mission is to help individuals recover from the unexpected,” said State Farm’s Vice President-Agency Joe Spicer. “As the No. 1 automobile insurer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a partnership like this supports State Farm’s commitment to automobile and driver initiatives that assist motorists traveling our roadways. The goal of the State Farm Safety Patrol is safety.”

In addition to the vehicle fleet and patrols, 22 reflective signs are being installed along the highway to inform motorists of this program and instruct them to dial *-11 on their mobile phones for assistance or to report an accident or incident they witness or are involved in.

The State Farm sponsorship is the first of several initiatives being undertaken by the Turnpike as part of a request for proposals issued June 7, 2006. Collectively referred to as the Mileposts program, the Turnpike Commission is offering marketing-rights packages for toll plazas and other assets through a separate agreement with Philadelphia-based Branding Rights LLC, a firm which specializes in identifying and brokering such public-private sponsorship deals.

Brimmeier noted that the State Farm patrol embodies the superior customer safety and convenience motorists have come to expect on America’s First Superhighway. “We’re consistently ranked among the safest interstates in the nation, and our customers expect more when they travel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike,” he said. “For safety’s sake, the Turnpike leverages the best technology to collect information on highway conditions and incidents and communicate that information in real time to customers.”

Brimmeier said the Turnpike’s hi-tech centerpiece is its web site, www.paturnpike.com. Online, motorists can join the Turnpike’s Preferred Traveler program and be automatically notified via e-mail or text message about accidents, traffic backups, bad weather or other conditions that might affect their travels. Motorists can even choose their regularly traveled stretch of Turnpike to receive only applicable alerts.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is the third U.S. highway to feature the State Farm Safety Patrol; similar programs exist in Florida and Colorado.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike stretches 359 miles from Ohio to New Jersey, passing north of the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia metropolitan areas; it includes the Northeastern Extension (I-476) running 110 miles from Philadelphia to Scranton, as well as the western spurs, or Turnpike offshoots, running 68 miles in and around the greater Pittsburgh area.

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State Farm Safety Patrol brochure (PDF)

About State Farm
State Farm® insures more cars than any insurer in North America. Its 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serve nearly 75 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.6 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. is the parent of the State Farm family of companies and is ranked No. 22 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, visit www.statefarm.com.

About Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission operates and maintains 537 miles of toll roads in the state. It oversees 60 fare-collection facilities, 20 service plazas and 26 maintenance facilities. With 2,300 employees, it generates $589 million in annual toll revenue from 186 million vehicles a year. Known as “America’s First Superhighway,” it opened Oct. 1, 1940. To learn more, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.paturnpike.com" www.paturnpike.com.

About Branding Rights
Branding Rights LLC develops and markets rights programs packaged around publicly and privately owned properties in emerging sponsorship categories. It identifies assets for clients that can generate recurring revenue streams or otherwise be monetized and creates the corresponding marketing platform for rights offerings. More information is available at www.brandingrights.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
State Farm — Doug Griffith, (724) 743-4961
Pa. Turnpike — Joe Agnello, (724) 755-5262