nd, which it reaffirmed in 2010, except for its continued opposition to the inclusion of “typical traffic incident management applications” in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD).9
To improve the effectiveness with which traffic incidents are approached and resolved, the various disciplines (law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency medical services, towing and recovery, transportation, public works, and medical examiners) must establish open lines of communication and must anticipate and especially plan for major traffic incidents, uniting their respective expertise into one flexible coordinated response shared by all. Disciplines, especially law enforcement, must move from consecutive to concurrent operations. Multitasking does not mean sacrificing either safety or effectiveness; it simply means not finishing one task before initiating another. For example, a crash investigation does not need to be completed before a tow truck is summoned. The investigating officer often can reduce the incident clearance time10 by requesting a tow truck be dispatched while still completing on-the-scene tasks and by ensuring the correct class of tow truck is sent the first time using the Towing and Recovery Association of America’s TRAA Vehicle Identification Guide, which provides silhouettes of the eight vehicle classes based on gross vehicle weight.11 Likewise, agreements need to be reached—or statutory changes need to be explored—to facilitate the removal of any crash fatality.12 When a fatality occurs on the Phoenix, Arizona, metro area freeway system, the Office of the Medical Examiner for Maricopa County, Arizona, is notified, and its van is diverted from picking up a natural death at a residence to the freeway to reduce the time the highway is blocked.13 Other requests can be handled similarly.
The following are 10 TIM concepts that agencies may wish to consider to reduce the incidence and severity of crashes and the congestion and the frustration they produce:
1. Safety always 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 