 is paramount. Working on highways is perilous. Even though responders’ hearts are in the right place, they must remain ever vigilant of the dangers that loom at every incident. They must act on the basis of their training and experience to ensure that they can return home safely to their loved ones and live to respond to the next call. However, past experience is a bad omen. During 24 years measured (1987–2010), 278 law enforcement officers were struck and killed by vehicles; this averages out to one officer killed each month. Of these officers, 60 percent were “directing traffic, assisting motorists, etc.,” while the remaining 40 percent were involved in a “traffic stop, roadblock, etc.”14 “Struck by” collisions accounted for 5 of the 87 firefighters killed in 2010, which was almost six percent of firefighter deaths that year.15 Similarly, an average of one on-duty tow truck operator is killed every six days, amounting to more than 60 each year.16
2. Wear high-visibility safety apparel day and night. It’s the law that law enforcement officers directing traffic; investigating crashes; or handling lane closures, obstructed roadways, and disasters on all public roads are mandated to wear high-visibility safety apparel meeting either the Class 2 or 3 ANSI/ISEA 107–2010 standard17 in the American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel and Headwear or the ANSI/ISEA 207-2006 standard in the American National Standard for High-Visibility Public Safety Vests.18 The public safety vest was purpose designed: It is capable of (1) visually signaling the presence of law enforcement and other public safety officers by contrasting the color and brightness of the vest against the ambient background of the officers’ work environment and (2) including police officers’ requirements for breakaway shoulders; adjustable waists; pen or penlight openings; badge holders; microphone tabs; and side access to such items as pistols, handcuffs, and walkie-talkies.19
All other emergency or incident responders on all public roads also are required to wear high-visibility safety apparel meeting the aforementioned ANSI/ISEA standards, while firefighters and other emergency responders engaged in emergency operations that directly expose them to flame, fire, heat, or hazardous materials may opt to wear approved retroreflective turnout gear.20
|The officer on the left is not wearing high-visibility safety apparel. The one on the right is.|
3. Size up the scene on approach. “Responders arriving at a traffic incident should estimate the magnitude of the traffic incident, the expected time duration of the traffic incident, and the expected vehicle queue length, and then should set up the appropriate temporary traffic controls for these estimates.”21 Accordingly, a responding officer who recognizes a primary incident as other than minor should notify appropriate superiors who promptly can initiate actions to mitigate its negative impact. For example, additional officers could begin—upstream from the incident—deploying reflectors, road flares, traffic cones, or other channeling devices to taper approaching vehicles away from the incident and into available travel lanes; and motorists could be warned early on of impending delays via media traffic reports, changeable message signs, or other means, so they are able to avoid the affected area. In the event of a major incident, more officers, along with transportation department workers, could begin establishing detours and diverting traffic onto them. Such actions reduce drivers’ frustration, relieve congestion, prevent secondary crashes, and demonstrate that the disciplines involved are working together to alleviate the major incident’s impact.
4. Practice safe parking. Recognizing that the random parking of emergency vehicles at an incident can needlessly divert drivers’ attention from driving, endanger those working the scene, and contribute to secondary crashes, the term “safe-positioned”22 was introduced in the current edition of the
MUTCD to create dialogue between public safety agencies about th