Draft:Traffic incident management
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Traffic incident management (TIM) is an aspect of incident management that encompasses the use of various resources—such as human or technical resources—to reduce the impact of and restore normal operations following traffic incidents,[1] most often stalls and collisions.[2] The stated goal of TIM is to restore normal traffic flow after an interruption in a safe and rapid manner.[3] A wide array of planning resources, frameworks,[4] and best practices have been established to better achieve this goal and address hazards that may arise during incident remediation.[1] A 2011 review of TIM states that programs associated with the term have existed for at least 20 years, noting that they have expanded from simple plans designed to clear roadways of incidents to works encompassing incident prediction, incident verification, and response time optimization.[5]
Problems in traffic incident management
Incident verification
Groups responding to incidents are often notified through inconsistent means. Emergency responders and law enforcement are often the first to be notified of an incident, but the quality of the information they receive from motorists who discover the incident may be poor. Dispatchers may become overwhelmed by multiple callers at the same incident, or in less populated areas, an incident may go unnoticed for some time.[6] The driving culture and political organization may vary across regions, with road authorities varying greatly across political boundaries, so response plans cannot be easily standardized.[1]
Congestion and traveler information
Blocking one or more lanes on a multi-lane road, whether due to road maintenance, construction, or a traffic incident, significantly reduces the traffic capacity of that road. Blocking a single lane on a three-lane road causes the capacity of the road at that point to decrease by roughly half.[7] Providing travelers with information, such as if they need to move to another lane or take a detour, can reduce the impact of a traffic incident and prevent secondary accidents, e.g., a multiple-vehicle collision. However, inaccurate information can exacerbate issues further or lead to travelers becoming desensitized to information, such as that provided on roadside variable-message signs.[8]