n June 2000, Ontario's Red Tape Commission formed the Highway Incident Management Task Force that consisted of a broad range of transportation stakeholders. The problem that the Task Force was asked to address was stated as follows: "Traffic congestion caused by accidents on Ontario's major highways is affecting Ontario's economy and the health and safety of its citizens." The challenge set forth for the Task Force was stated to be: "To clear up highway incidents quickly, while maintaining road and public safety and improving driver behaviour." After much discussion and debate, the task force members summarized their recommendations into five main issues: 1. Make highway incident management a priority. 2. Improve driver behaviour (major public education initiative). 3. Reduce incident detection, verification, response and clearance times. 4. Provide timely, accurate information to the driving public. 5. Enhance the safety and security of highway travel. The Task Force's recommendations were finalized in January 2002 and contain 36 separate action items. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E211271.
Abstract