NJDOT launches web site for
Traffic Incident Management training

Effort part of National Traffic Incident Response Week

(Trenton) - As part of National Traffic Incident Response week, November 14 – 18, New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials today announced the launch of a new Traffic Incident Management (TIM) web site and resource portal to help train first responders.

New Jersey is a leading state in TIM Responder Training which brings police, firefighters, medical personnel, DOT, towing, and other incident responders together to engage in interactive, hands-on incident resolution exercises.

The TIM training program focuses on a response effort that protects motorists and responders while minimizing the impact on traffic flow. Working together across agencies is crucial to safely and quickly responding to and clearing an incident. Each year the average number of responders struck and killed nationally while working in or near moving traffic are:

• Fire/Rescue and EMS: 6 to 8 each year
• Law Enforcement: 10 to 12 each year
• Tow/Recovery: 50 each year
• DOTs, Public Works, and Safety Service Patrols:   100 killed each year, and 20,000 injured
  

The life-saving training is part of a national effort to improve the safety of first responders and others on the scene of highway crashes. The course is intended to share local, state, and national best practices by providing responders the knowledge they need to conduct safe, quick clearances of roadway incidents. NJDOT and its partner agencies have trained more than 8,000 incident response personnel.

The new NJTIM web portal, www.NJTIM.org, was developed by NJDOT, in partnership with academia and its response partners, to make the Department’s ongoing effort to train first responders in New Jersey more accessible and to share information regarding the State’s Traffic Incident Management program. 

The website serves two purposes.  First, it allows first responders to sign up for an existing TIM training class or request a larger class be hosted for their agency.  Interested responders can search scheduled classes by date, county or zip code.  The class can be used for continuing education credits and professional development hours for certain disciplines. 

The website also provides information related to New Jersey’s Traffic Incident Management Strategic Plan, Traffic Incident Management Safety Guidelines for Emergency Responders, a directory of all phone numbers for law enforcement agencies within the State of New Jersey as well as national research information about Traffic Incident Management and links to learn more about the state of TIM in the country. The site is designed for use on both desktop computers and mobile devices.