Date:
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Contact:
Rick Phillips, WSDOT Incident Response Program, (360) 705-7287 (Olympia)
Collisions, stalls and other traffic incidents cause more than half of urban congestion. Emergency responders are coming together to get traffic incidents off the roadways faster and keep traffic moving.
First responders, including WSDOT’s Incident Response Team, Washington State Patrol, local fire services, Washington State Department of Ecology, towing companies and other aid groups work together to clear incidents from Washington’s state highways. To get traffic moving quicker and work safely, they are finding new and innovative ways to communicate and work together.
These groups are coming together at the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Conference Sept. 16 and 17 at the Lacey Community Center in Lacey.
“We have found that every minute a lane is blocked during commute hours, it adds four to 10 minutes of traffic congestion,” said Rick Phillips, WSDOT Incident Response Program Manager. “It’s our goal to get to and clear the road as rapidly as possible to minimize the impact on congestion, especially during peak periods.”
WSDOT has been a leader in building local partnerships, with new initiatives such as its Joint Operating Policy Statement with the Washington State Patrol and working with tow truck operators to get damaged heavy trucks off the road safer and quicker.
“We really value our partnership with the Department of Transportation,” said WSP Chief John R. Batiste. “We think our two entities set the bar for how government agencies ought to work together in delivering seamless service to the public.”
The TIM Coalition, a partnership among first responders, are working to find new and better ways to keep drivers safe and keep traffic moving. They also work on operational strategies for reducing risk to the first responders working along the highway. A conference agenda is available at: www.watimcoalition.org/
For more information on WSDOT’s Incident Response Program, visit: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Operations/IncidentResponse/default.htm
For more information on the National Unified Goal and how emergency responders are working together across the country, visit:
http://timcoalition.org/?siteid=41&pageid=590
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