'Walking Dead' star part of traffic safety push

Illinois officials will trot out a TV star to emphasize holiday traffic safety.

Michael Rooker - who played Merle Dixon on the hit television series, "The Walking Dead," will introduce a video series for an upcoming traffic safety campaign by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Entitled, "The Driving Dead," Rooker will attend a news conference Thursday at the Music Box Theater in Chicago to unveil a video trailer.

It will kick off state officials' Labor Day crackdown on impaired driving - "Driver Sober or Get Pulled Over."

Safety advocates and representatives from Arthur Agency, a Carbondale-based advertising firm, will join Rooker for the event.

The campaign will use digital and social media to reach drivers who are most likely to drive drunk or without a seat belt.