Crash Responder Safety Week (CRSW) is an opportunity to make a difference individually and jointly for roadway safety during traffic incidents by teaching each other and the motoring public about our common goal and responsibility for safe, quick clearance.
Every minute of every day, law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency medical services (EMS), public works, transportation, towing, and other responders work roadside to make roadways safe for all road users. These traffic incident responders put their lives at risk when clearing each of the nearly 7 million annual motor vehicle crashes or the broader range of incidents such as stalled vehicles or roadway debris.
Public education and effective TIM practices that alert drivers and prepare them to react properly when encountering emergency scenes, including moving over and slowing down, keep motorists safe, reduce needless secondary crashes, and save lives. The goal of Crash Responder Awareness Week is to reach out to every emergency responder, every driver, and every passenger, to educate them in how to play their part in ensuring safe responses at roadway incident scenes. More details are available from the National Operations Center of Excellence. Use the hashtag #CRSW when posting on social media about your responder safety and TIM activities.
Further resource material will be posted as soon they are available through FHWA.
NDOT currently places “Wrong Way” signs on all freeway ramps to notify drivers errantly entering in the wrong direction. As a pilot program, NDOT is installing additional flashing warning signals and detection systems on certain interstate and freeway off-ramps.
The wrong way driver alert system uses radar and closed-circuit cameras to automatically detect vehicles entering in the wrong direction, activating two sets of red flashing wrong-way signs on the ramp. As a highly-visible additional indication to stop drivers from entering the wrong way, the first set of signs stands four feet high instead of the standard seven-foot sign height to more readily reach the lower eye level of sleepy or impaired drivers.
The Transportation Research Board reports an average of 360 deaths nationwide every year due to wrong-way driver crashes. In more than half of wrong-way crashes, wrong-way drivers are impaired by alcohol.
Between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2018, there were 135 wrong-way crashes in Nevada resulting in 22 fatalities. Nevada is one of a handful of state DOTs testing the wrong-way driver detection systems. Preliminary research shows that such systems are 80% effective in stopping wrong-way drivers.
For more information and for a list of safe driving tips, please click on the link below.
https://www.dot.nv.gov/safety/wrong-way-driver-system
The Nevada State Police Highway Patrol, The Nevada Department of Transportation, the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety, the tow truck industry and the Traffic Incident Management Coalition announced the “Move Over” campaign aimed at raising public awareness of this important issue.
Since 2003 Nevada law has required drivers to slow down, and if safe to do so, move over one lane when approaching any official emergency vehicle(s) pulled over on the side of the road with red and blue emergency lights flashing. In 2017, the move over law (NRS 484B.607) expanded to include Nevada Department of Transportation vehicles (including Freeway Service Patrol), construction vehicles and tow trucks stopped on the side of the road with flashing amber or non-flashing blue lights activated. All 50 States have enacted “Move Over” laws to protect first responders, emergency workers and other personnel working alongside our nation’s highways.
It is important to point out that there are many more incidents each year that cause serious injuries to emergency responders, including career-ending, disabling injuries. There are dozens more property damage incidents that destroy expensive emergency vehicles that must then be taken out of service, making them unavailable to meet the community’s needs. – The Emergency Responder Safety Institute’s 2019 Fatality Report
The below link is a press conference that was held on March 25, 2021 in southern Nevada.
https://www.facebook.com/FOX5Vegas/videos/451381776131080/
The below link is a press conference that was held on March 30, 2021 in northern Nevada.
hhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd_W0j2uFVEttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd_W0j2uFVE
The Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Program removes incidents from Nevada’s highways and restores normal travel operations as safely and quickly as possible.
NDOT, NSP, and multiple local agencies partner to:
Safe and quick clearance of traffic incidents.
Prompt reliable and interoperable communications.
Economic vitality by reducing delays.
Responder safety.
Secondary crashes.
The Nevada Department of Transportation provides the Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) program sponsored by GEICO in the Las Vegas and Reno/Sparks areas to reduce congestion and improve highway safety on the more heavily traveled sections of our urban freeways by reducing the time required to remove incidents and objects that can disrupt traffic flows during peak travel periods.
The Nevada TIM Coalition is a forum of collaborative members from the public and private agencies to facilitate continuous dialogue about TIM practices. They do this through collaboratively creating and hosting mutually beneficial trainings and sharing resources. These well-rounded, multi-disciplinary teams bring together their diverse experience to advance and implement TIM practices within specific areas of responsibility across the state.
The SHRP2 TIM Training helps to provide training and information to better remove incidents from Nevada’s highways and restore normal travel operations as safely and quickly as possible.
Browse TIM resources from TIM guidelines to SHRP2 TIM Training information to video resources to NDOT Diversion Maps to Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS), and more. This content is available for all visitors.
Nevada’s Towing and Recovery Incentive Program (TRIP) is an incentive based towing program designed to standardize towing response for large commercial vehicle crashes. TRIP will pay heavy-duty towing and recovery companies’ monetary bonuses for the quick clearance of large commercial vehicle incidents in designated areas. The primary focus is on safe, quick clearance of commercial vehicle incidents, to reduce congestion, and reduce or eliminate secondary incidents.
For additional dates & information about coalition meetings, SHRP2 TIM Training, Nevada TRIP Program, click here.
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