The Georgia TIME Task Force was created in 2002 to address the critical issues of mobility and safety related to transportation incident management in the Atlanta metro region. The task force has since expanded to include incident responders from throughout Georgia from transportation, fire, rescue, police, towing, EMS, and other related agencies. Supported by the Georgia Department of Transportation, the task force shares the message of safe, quick clearance with responders both on the front lines and behind the scenes.
The 2020 Safety Stand Down theme of protecting our responders on roadways was especially relevant to the TIME Task Force as they develop regional and local traffic incident management (TIM) teams which meet quarterly to share ideas, experiences, and to get to know one another all in the interest of safe, quick clearance of roadway incidents. To mark Safety Stand Down, they invited Chief T.J. Nedrow, the National Volunteer Fire Council’s Washington director and TIM subject matter expert, to participate in two of these meetings to share the messages of Safety Stand Down with these groups. The online sessions were well received and were recorded so they can be shared with other TIM teams.
Said task force representative Scott Malcolm, “The information was invaluable to the group and tied in perfectly with the mission of the GA TIME Task Force and all of its regional TIM teams.”
The Georgia TIME Task Force will continue to advance roadway safety for all responders throughout the year through its quarterly meetings, training for all disciplines, biennial conferences, and other programs. The work of the group has had a significant impact on responder safety in Georgia, from the successes of their TIM teams, to near-miss incidents that had positive outcomes thanks to safe, proper vehicle positioning at crash scenes, to some of the highest SHRP2 training numbers in the state.
“Many fire, law enforcement, EMS, towing and recovery, and other agencies have adopted safe operational policies and procedures based upon the training and interaction of the task force and local TIM teams,” said Malcolm.