Training Resources Available for the 2020 National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week

From November 9-15, Departments Are Encouraged to Focus on How to Protect Traffic Incident Responders

National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week from November 9-15, 2020 is a time for departments to focus on promoting safety practices for personnel who respond to incidents on the roadway and to step up their public education campaigns to educate the public on how to either avoid or safely pass emergency incidents on the roadway. During the week, departments are encouraged to plan training activities to learn best practices and refresh their safety mindset and skills.

In support of National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week, the Emergency Responder Safety Institute (ERSI) has created a page of resources, topics and activities to enable roadway responders at all levels to improve their safety practices at roadway responses and better educate the public on their role in roadway incident safety. [LINK TO THE NEW PAGE] All responders can find a topic and activity that fits their role, availability, and time parameters; completing their chosen activity or activities will improve their knowledge and skills in responding to roadway events more safely through implementing traffic incident management (TIM). ERSI also create six awareness posters specifically for this Week, which are available to download and print. There is one poster for each responding agency type (Fire service, EMS, law enforcement, DOT & Safety Service Patrols, towing & recovery) and one public education poster on distracted driving.

There are seven topic plans available for departmental training: SOPs/SOGs, High Visibility, Setting Up a Traffic Incident Management Area, Protecting Personnel with Advance Warning and Blocking, Manual Traffic Control, Backing Up Safely, and Termination. Each topic plan has suggested activities relevant for different roles: leadership, fire officers, training officers and instructors, safety officers, PIOs and public educators, and frontline responders. There's something for everyone, no matter your role, time, or current level of knowledge. "These topic plans jump-start your training and make it easy to integrate an activity of your choice into National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week," said Steve Austin, project manager for ResponderSafety.com. "How you do it is flexible, so no matter how much time you have or what the particulars are of your department, you can find something that will add value and lead to better protecting your members."

All 2020 National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week topic plans, activities, and resources are free and available on the 2020 National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week page on ResponderSafety.com.