Improving Incident Management Response and Coordination of Resources

Highway crashes cause a major impact to the transportation network by critically limiting the operational efficiency of the roadway. Traveler delay is the problem most often associated with highway crashes, but by far the most serious problem is the resulting secondary crashes that occur. Another related issue is the danger posed to response personnel serving the public at the scene. The magnitude of these problems is severe. A coordinated plan for managing the scene is needed to reduce the impact of highway crashes and improve the safety for everyone. A Checklist and interagency workshop has been developed to address ways to secure and coordinate the resources necessary to restore the roadway’s operation in a safe and timely manner. This Checklist and workshop serve as a reminder to responding agencies of the activities that need to be performed and who needs to perform them. A highway crash scenario activity is part of the workshop and helps all the agencies involved at a crash scene to gain a better understanding of each other’s roles. After the first workshop, 30 participants evaluated the Checklist and workshop. Ninety percent agreed that the workshop was helpful to them personally, and nearly 97% said they would encourage others to attend the workshop. Nearly 80% said they would use the Checklist on scene. Comments reflected that the interagency training was beneficial to them because it promoted communication and better understanding of everyone’s role at a crash scene