Collaboration appears to be the theme of this month. Everywhere
we look, we see reminders that our TIM Program successes are not just what you
or I can accomplish, or what our respective agencies can do. They are all about
what WE can do together…what OUR
agencies, OUR disciplines, OUR mutual commitment can accomplish. The solidarity
and perseverance of our TIM champions lift our programs to new heights as we
collaboratively shape the next generation of traffic incident management across
the nation.
Across
the span of a day, a week or even a year, every now and then circumstances
align to underscore a common theme. Far be it for us to ignore a “sign” when
one seems to be knocking down our door. September
13, 2018 will be our 8th annual Oregon TIM Conference. We are preparing our
agenda and will distribute it in the months ahead. Please join us as we develop
this year’s theme: Collaboration — Accomplishment
Through Solidarity. If you have examples of TIM partnerships or unique ways
different disciplines have partnered for success, we’d love to hear about them
and include them in our conference
Darin A. Weaver, Oregon TIM Program
Our TIM Program is part of ODOT’s broader Operations Program,
which includes activities that enhance the safety and reliability of Oregon’s
roadways. In an effort to keep pace with increasing demands on our
transportation system, we are developing a comprehensive program plan to
formalize the Operations Program and keep us focused on the most important
things moving forward.
We recently used FHWA’s Capability Maturity Model to conduct a
self-assessment and identify gaps and improvement opportunities in our program. The core
team also gathered input from internal stakeholders, including: Traffic, ITS,
Planning, Maintenance and Information Systems and the Traffic Operations and
Maintenance and Operations leadership teams respectively. Results include a
program mission to “move people and goods safely and efficiently” and development of a draft
action plan.
We look forward to sharing the results later this summer!
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Following our Train the Trainer
event on Tuesday May 2, we set aside
some time to meet with our alumni trainers to roll out the 2018 updated version
of Oregon’s TIM Responder training curriculum. We were encouraged to spend the
morning with a very engaged, diverse cross-section of our trainers. We reviewed
changes to the Oregon TIM training material, highlighting the addition of
Oregon-specific laws, photos and scenarios. The changes represent local
application of national best practices and standards and make it easier for
attendees to see what TIM looks like “on their roads.” We were also able to
discuss potential improvements to training delivery, including further refinement
of our custom Oregon Tabletop exercises, class scheduling, trainer involvement
and preparation and cross-disciplined delivery coordination. As always, the Department
of Public Safety Standards and Training staff were
very gracious hosts—it was a comfortable, constructive and collaborative
morning that left each of us looking forward to our first opportunity to
deliver the updated material.
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Lt. Patrick Huskey with the Oregon State
Police receives a handshake and plaque of appreciation from Reinhold Weissbock
(left) and Michael Ingles, representing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. These two
gentlemen made the journey south on a peer visit to attend our Train the Trainer
event and learn about our TIM Responder Training program. Both Michael and
Reinhold were a pleasure to meet and spend the day with. Please take back our best wishes from Oregon’s TIM program. We hope your trip home
was safe and free from roadway incidents! We already have several alumni
trainers who have volunteered to help with your first TIM training event!
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Vehicle relocation is a solid
TIM strategy and one that we have been seeking to advance across the
state. We devote significant time
promoting the strategy through our TIM responder training and in 2016 we
developed and rolled out an ODOT Push, Pull & Drag (PP&D) training. The
next phase in the maturation of our PP&D program is telling the story.
Recently we developed our
first PP&D performance measure. Our Transportation Operations Center (TOC)
software enables dispatchers to enter in a PP&D event attribute if this strategy
is applied. When responders properly identify that the vehicle is a candidate
for PP&D they notify dispatch of their intentions, the dispatcher notes the
activity in the software, the responder proceeds with the activity and now we
have data to tell our story!
To build our PP&D
performance measure we selected the six event types where PP&D is most
likely to be a viable strategy and noted the total numbers of these types of
events (the red numbers). The orange numbers represent the number of times that
PP&D was employed and lastly the blue numbers
provide the percentage that PP&D was utilized.
PP&D is a tool that
responders use to improve the safety of all
motorists and responders, it enhances the reliability of our roadways,
it saves time and money. When properly executed PP&D is a win for everyone
involved and that is why we want to utilize this strategy whenever
circumstances allow. The development of our PP&D Performance will help
shape actions to move us towards that goal!
Trooper Mark Kingma has been with the Oregon State Police for 29 years. Mark was one of the first law enforcement TIM trainers in Oregon and is one of our most active trainers, travelling across the state to assist with delivery of the program. Even though he has recently left the Patrol Division, moving to Fish and Wildlife, Mark is still eager to jump in and assist on a class when he can. We caught up with Mark recently to ask him about his thoughts on traffic incident management.
We asked, “Based off your experience, what is critical to clearing an incident safely and quickly?” Mark’s response revolved around collaboration and partnership: “Working with other agencies/disciplines to help get our jobs done quickly, whether taking pictures for someone, pushing a disabled vehicle out of the road, contacting witnesses...the more we can do for each other, the sooner we can open up the road.” “...The more we can do for each other…” those words should ring in our ears. That type of unity is exactly what we seek to promote throughout our entire TIM program. Enhancing interagency understanding and cross-discipline support is one of the primary themes of our TIM Responder training. Experienced responders like Mark know that this level of unity and understanding often develops over time, but we can proactively nurture working relationships through cross-disciplined training, after-action debriefs and even taking time out of our busy schedules to share a cup of coffee with fellow responders in our area. We are very fortunate to have TIM program champions like Mark who acknowledge that we do many things well, but have too much at stake to be satisfied. If you are out enjoying Oregon’s waters or backcountry roads and you cross paths with Mark, join us in extending a big thank you for taking the time to share his thoughts on our TIM program and for the countless hours that he has devoted to advancing safe, quick clearance across Oregon.
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