Focus on detection, response and clearance to improve incident management, only turn to planning diversion routes after these are as robust as possible.

National experience with incident management.

Date Posted
09/16/2005
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Identifier
2005-L00026

Intelligent Transportation Systems Field Operational Test Cross-Cutting Study: Incident Management: Detection, Verification, and Traffic Management

Summary Information

In 1991, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) initiated a new program to address the needs of the emerging ITS field. This program solicited and funded projects, called Field Operational Tests (FOTs). The tests were sponsored and supported by several administrations of the Department, including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). FHWA has prepared several "crosscutting" studies that compare or synthesize the findings of multiple tests within a particular area of interest.

This report presents the results of nine FHWA ITS FOTs and the ITS deployment in Georgia for the 1996 Summer Olympics, and discusses the possible implications of these findings for further deployment of incident detection, verification, and traffic management services, and communications to improve the Incident Management capabilities of transportation and public safety officials. The service will help these officials to quickly and accurately identify a variety of incidents, and to implement a set of actions to minimize the effects of those incidents.

Lessons Learned

Actively manage incidents to improve safety and efficiency.



In the deployments studied, safety improvements such as reductions in secondary incidents, total number of incidents, and incident response time were clearly proven. TransGuide in San Antonio, TX, experienced a 15 percent reduction in injury related accident rates, and projected that the improvement would grow to 21 percent based on trends during the test period. It also achieved an overall reduction in time to detect, verify, and respond to incidents of 20 percent. The test achieved response times below 20 minutes for major and minor incidents, as measured by the San Antonio Police Department. In systems with well prepared diversion routes, the primary benefits from incident management seem to accrue not from diversion but from rapid detection, effective response, and timely clearance of incidents.



Share incident information between agencies to achieve additional benefits.



The most common relationships were between law enforcement, emergency services, traffic management, traffic control, and transit. In some cases this sharing was achieved by electronically transmitting the information between separate locations, by collocating personnel from different agencies in a single Transportation Management Center (TMC), or by other means such as voice communications, pager, or fax.