Page 55 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2019

1981
AAA introduces AAA Supernumber (800-AAA-HELP {800-222-4357}), a toll-free emergency information service for members traveling outside their home club area. After a test period, the service is launched nationwide the next year.
The organization begins including life-safety procedures in TourBook guides for lodging fire emergencies. AAA requirements for accommodations include fire-safety provisions.
Combines its two instruction manuals for towing foreign-made and American-made vehicles into one manual, which remains the authoritative text on towing cars.
At this time in history: Ronald Reagan becomes president
of the U.S. He is wounded in an assassination attempt, as are his press secretary and two law enforcement officers.
Millions around the world watch the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in Great Britain. Judge Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
1982
AAA introduces the Starting Early program, an alcohol- education program for elementary school-age children. It includes seven teaching modules, one for each grade, kindergarten through sixth grade.
The organization launches an infant/child car safety seat program and creates a Financial Services Department to administer the AAA/VISA credit card program, a traveler’s checks operation and a AAA/U.S. government money market account.
At this time in history: Princess Grace of Monaco dies in an automobile accident. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies and Yuri Andropov is chosen to succeed him. The first launched U.S. space shuttle, Columbia, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a five-day trip.
1983
AAA identifies scenic highways on AAA sheet maps for the first time. Scenic highway designations become an integral part of AAA mapping and are included on all AAA maps, including today’s Internet TripTik routings.
The association offers an airline default protection plan through travel agencies in response to travel agent and public concern over the precarious financial position of certain air carriers.
It also begins identifying lodging properties in TourBook guides that feature room smoke alarms and sprinklers.
At this time in history: The second U.S. space shuttle, Challenger, makes its successful maiden voyage, which includes the first spacewalk in nine years. Sally Ride becomes the first woman astronaut in space. A South Korean jetliner strays into Soviet airspace and is shot down. U.S. and Caribbean allies invade Grenada.
1984
The association publishes the AAA North American Road Atlas.
It is the first AAA atlas to use all AAA maps and not the imprint of another mapping company, and a year later it is sold at retail outlets and makes the New York Times best-seller paperback list.
AAA begins co-sponsoring the Plymouth/AAA Trouble-Shooting Contest for aspiring auto mechanics. The contest is designed to assist high school students in developing auto repair skills, increase interest in the auto repair industry and encourage opportunities in auto repair for students.
The organization stores more than 13,000 full-color map images on an optical laser disc for demonstration on an in-car navigation device in the Chrysler Pavilion at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.
AAA has the most significant number of accredited retail travel agency locations in the U.S. and travel agency sales exceed $1 billion.
At this time in history: Bell Telephone System is broken up by courts. The Soviet Union withdraws from the Summer Olympic Games in the U.S. The nation’s first compulsory seat belt law is enacted in New York. Two Sikh bodyguards assassinate Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
1985
AAA launches the Fred Flintstone All-American Buckle Up campaign concurrently with national safety education to promote the use of seat belts and infant/child car safety seats.
The association wins an award in a J.C. Penney Co. competition for accomplishments in launching or expanding its programs to aid disabled persons. AAA is honored for publishing the Handicapped Drivers Mobility Guide, including a handicapped symbol in TourBook guides and developing its adaptive equipment vehicle testing program, which tests ease of use
of vehicles modified for those with disabilities.
At this time in history: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes USSR leader. The space shuttle Challenger flies its largest crew ever on an international mission.
Get to know the history and path ahead of one of the world’s largest membership organizations.
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