The benefits of multidisciplinary TIM operations yielded an annual reduction in incident duration of 28.6 percent and in vehicle-hours of delay of approximately 30 million in Maryland.

Experience based on a Case Study in Maryland

Date Posted
10/03/2013
Identifier
2013-B00876
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Traffic Incident Management Resource Management

Summary Information

As part of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) campaign to "Keep America Moving," a series of Primers were developed on Traffic Incident Management. The purpose of this guidebook is to:

  • Identify and explore opportunities for improvement in resource management by considering the most efficient and effective use of resources across all responding agencies.
  • Describe potential cost-sharing strategies that would allow these efficiencies to be realized.

Traffic incident management (TIM) requires a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach, involving law enforcement, fire and rescue, transportation, towing and recovery, and others, to safely and quickly clear a highway incident. Established multi-disciplinary operational training efforts attempt to minimize any inefficiencies or ineffectiveness in response actions by any one agency that may extend the necessary duration of the incident and/or compromise the safety of field personnel or the motoring public. The economic effects of this multi-disciplinary operational approach are most often tied to a reduction in overall incident duration and reported in monetary terms as a reduction in motorist delay, fuel consumption, harmful emissions, and/or secondary incidents involving either other motorists or response personnel.

This same multi-disciplinary approach has not been as widely extended to the area of resource management. To optimize incident management efficiency and effectiveness from a resource management point of view, personnel and equipment should be best matched to tasks based on their respective level of training and/or capabilities. The most efficient and effective use of resources across all responding agencies in combination, economic savings are anticipated and attributable to the:

  • Utilization of personnel who are best qualified (i.e., capable, but not over-qualified) for the various tasks (this, in turn, allows alternately skilled personnel to focus on other incident management functions).
  • Utilization of appropriate equipment by function (i.e., use of the least costly equipment capable of performing the function).
  • Utilization of appropriate technology capable of supporting various on-site resource tasks.
  • Reduction in overall resources required through reduced redundancy across disciplines.

The benefits of multidisciplinary TIM operations are most often tied to a reduction in overall incident duration and reported in monetary terms as a reduction in motorist delay, fuel consumption, harmful emissions, and/or secondary incidents involving either other motorists or response personnel.

FINDINGS

A Case Study in Maryland reported the following benefits:
  • Reduction in Average incident duration of 28.6 percent.
  • Reduction in Vehicle-hours of delay of approximately 30 million.
  • Reduction in Fuel consumption of approximately 5 million gallons of fuel.
  • Reduction in Secondary crashes by 377 incidents.
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