The goal of this conference was to develop and advance a national agenda for improved traffic incident management (TIM). The conference was organised in three phases. On the first day, experts presented, in a plenary session, the history, safety, societal impact, and issues associated with TIM from the perspectives of police, fire, transportation, and other public and private sector partners. The next day participants discussed, in small group work sessions, their priority issues for advancing the state of the practice in TIM and recommended actions/initiatives to address these issues. These breakout sessions were divided into three focus areas: operational issues, technological issues, and institutional issues. On the last day of the conference, participants further refined the priority actions and initiatives and began to identify potential next steps to advance the TIM agenda at the national level. Conference participants identified seven overall action items as most important for guiding a national agenda for TIM. The conference recommendations suggest five key components for implementing a national TIM strategy: (1) a national TIM framework/coalition, (2) TIM program development, (3) professionalising TIM, (4) TIM technology, and (5) communication, public outreach, and education. While not shown as a separate key element, research is also necessary throughout for an effective strategy.
Abstract