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Dear TIM Colleagues:
Thank you for helping rename the week that commemorates and recognizes the effort of local responders to quickly and safely clear roadway incidents. We are pleased to share that Crash Responder Safety Week (CRSW), formerly the National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week, will take place this November 8 – 14, 2021.
Register for the CRSW National Kickoff webinar taking place November 8, 1:00 PM ET to hear messages from Stephanie Pollack, Acting Administrator, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Dr. Steven Cliff, Acting Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Be sure to visit the FHWA CRSW site to:
- Align your promotion, press outreach, and social media engagement with others across the country by following the CRSW Calendar
- See the partner associations and agencies that will be promoting CRSW
- Learn how and why this name was chosen
This newsletter includes articles that spotlight:
- Crash Responder Safety Week Planning Across the United States
- TIM Capability Maturity Self-Assessment (TIMSA) Season
- Colorado DOT Establishes and Advances 27 Local TIM Teams
- Status of line of duty deaths (LODD) and TIM Responder Training
Be safe,
Paul Jodoin and Jim Austrich, FHWA TIM Program Managers
Collaborating with the CRSW National Committee, the FHWA is pleased to share a social media toolkit with sample tweets, press release, and other resources to help local agencies bring awareness to responder safety on our Nation’s roadways. The CRSW National Committee includes leadership and communications representatives among nearly a dozen national associations representing transportation, fire and rescue, law enforcement, emergency medical service, towing, and public works professionals as well as representatives from the FHWA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Visit the FHWA CRSW site for resources to plan your agency's efforts.
Want to know what TIM leaders in your State have planned for CRSW? Visit the NOCoE CRSW site. Highlights include:
- Governors' Proclamations (CT, FL, GA, MD, MA, NC, TN, VA, WA, WI)
- National TIM Responder Training (AL, AZ, CO, CT, GA, IN, LA, MD, MA, MI, MO, NE, NV, NC, PR, TN, TX, UT, VA, WV, WI)
- Changeable Message Signs (AL, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, KS, KY MI, MN, MO, NV, NY, NC, PR, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, WV, WI)
- Social Media (AL, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, KS, KY, MI, MO, NE, NV, NY, PA, PR, RI, TX, UT, WA, WI)
Many States’ TIM committees, transportation agencies, or law enforcement agencies will also conduct public events, publish press releases, produce print and/or video materials, promote messages through rest areas and departments of motor vehicles, provide interviews with mass media outlets, and promote driver education.
To commemorate the start of Crash Responder Safety Week (CRSW), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is conducting a National Kickoff webinar on November 8, 2021, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET. This webinar features messages, testimonials, and strategies to promote the safety of traffic incident responders and road users. Be sure to attend the National Kickoff webinar for Crash Responder Safety Week to hear messages from Stephanie Pollack, FHWA Acting Administrator, and Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA Acting Administrator. The webinar will also offer every participant an opportunity to virtually sign the FHWA CRSW Proclamation.
To learn more about CRSW, and how your agency will commemorate the event, please reach out to Jim Austrich, FHWA Program Manager.
The TIM Capability Maturity Self-Assessment (TIMSA) is a formal process for State and local transportation, public safety, and private sector partners to collaboratively assess their traffic incident management programs and identify opportunities for improvement. Exactly 100 TIM programs completed the TIMSA in year 2020.
The TIMSA process consists of questions covering the three TIM program areas:
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Strategic Program Elements assess formal policies and understandings among agencies and TIM partners, including performance measure and program evaluation.
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Tactical Program Elements assess on-scene response and clearance practices, traffic control, and responder and motorist safety.
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Support Program Elements assess interagency communications, data sharing, ITS for TIM, and traveler information.
Be sure to complete your region’s TIMSA by November 19, 2021. This year, TIMSA has added an abbreviated assessment designed specifically for rural and/or emerging TIM programs. To better understand how to complete the TIMSA and use its findings to improve your TIM program, view the TIMSA Training Session webinar recording.
To learn more about the TIMSA, or to view national statistics as measured through the TIMSA, please visit the FHWA TIMSA site or reach out to Paul Jodoin, FHWA TIMSA Program Manager.
The State of Colorado initiated a Governor’s Task Force on Responder Safety in 2017 to encourage Colorado’s responders to pivot from individual agency response to a collaborative, “One Scene, One Culture” strategy for traffic incidents. The Task Force, led by the Colorado State Patrol, resulted in a directive by Colorado’s State Patrol Chief for all Troop Captains to establish a working and effective TIM Team. Currently, 27 TIM teams, based either on an interstate corridor or a geographic area, share a collective mission is to reduce human exposure to active traffic, reduce incident impact, improve public engagement, and improve delivery of TIM services and products.
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To advance TIM Team effectiveness, the State produced the TIM Teams Toolkit, which includes:
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TIM Team workbook (new in 2021), a resource to help Colorado TIM Teams develop a mature program.
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Seven TIM Team Goals which include collaborate to collect data, develop memoranda of understanding, fund TIM programs, execute mutually beneficial training, determine the direction of TIM practices, develop/update TIM plan documents, and share resources.
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Templates for starting a TIM Team, including kickoff meeting, regular meeting, and after action review resources.
The State also holds an annual TIM Conference intended to help participants identify and develop communication principles and methods. Participants take this knowledge back to their TIM Program and share it with others in their TIM Teams. The 5th Annual Colorado TIM Conference, held September 22, 2021, also featured a training challenge with prizes for the TIM Team with most training modules completed, highest percent of personnel trained within an organization, and most personnel completing the National TIM Training certificate.
To learn more about Colorado’s strategies for establishing and maturing local TIM programs, view the August 2021 pre-recorded Talking TIM webinar or reach out to Patrick Chavez, Mountain Corridor Operations Manager, Colorado Department of Transportation.
As of November 5, 2021, 53 responders have lost their lives this year while managing traffic incidents on our Nation's roadways. This number is significantly greater than in past years and should serve as a wakeup call for all responders to complete the National TIM Responder training, and to practices its principles every day in the field.
The graphic below shows the percent of responders by discipline who have taken the National TIM Responder training. Emergency medical service, fire and rescue, law enforcement, public works and transportation, towing and recovery, and other TIM response personnel are encouraged to take the in-person National TIM Responder training, self-paced virtual training, or the hybrid virtual instructor-led training. The training is free. To access these options, visit the FHWA TIM Training site.
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