Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week is a reminder for Nevada motorists to drive safely
Submitted by editor on Tue, 11/13/2018 - 2:40pm
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Department of Transportation and Nevada Highway Patrol are reminding motorists to drive attentively and slow down and move over for traffic response vehicles during National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week, held Nov. 11-17.
There are approximately 50,000 reported crashes on Nevada roads every year. Traffic incidents are the primary cause of death for police officers and emergency medical responders nationwide. To help keep drivers, incident victims and first responders safe, Nevada traffic incident response partners remind motorists that Nevada law has long required drivers to slow down, proceed with caution, and if possible, move to the far lane when passing an official emergency response vehicle(s) pulled over on the side of the road with lights on.
Since 2017, an updated law requires drivers to do the same for NDOT road work vehicles with flashing amber or non-flashing blue lights on.
Nevada law also requires drivers involved in minor, non-injury fender benders to safely move their vehicle out of the travel lanes when possible, helping reduce the chance of secondary crashes for themselves and other drivers.
“Every day in Nevada, your police, fire and other public safety workers are out on the roads helping drivers who have been in some sort of mishap,” Reno Fire Department firefighter Mark Hilty explained. “We’re working in traffic and things are only made worse if one of us is injured or killed by a passing vehicle. Please, when you see our lights, slow down, move over and give us as much space as you can to safely do our jobs.”
National statistics show that for every minute a freeway lane is blocked, the resulting traffic congestion takes four minutes to clear, and the chance of secondary crashes rises. In Nevada, the Nevada departments of transportation and public safety, local law enforcement, public works, emergency medical response and emergency management, federal highway, homeland security and transit administrations as well as private towing and hazardous materials responders have joined together in traffic incident management coalitions to improve road incident response and roadway safety while reducing travel delays.
Since Nevada’s first Traffic Incident Management Coalition was founded in southern Nevada in 2008, coalitions statewide have trained nearly 4,250 first responders to implement safe, quick clearance of traffic incidents. In the Las Vegas area, the rate of secondary crashes has been cut in half since 2015. More information is available at www.NVtim.com.
For more than 15 years, NDOT has provided the Freeway Service Patrol to enhance freeway safety and help quickly clear incident scenes in Las Vegas and Reno. In 2017, the Freeway Service Patrol helped quickly and safely clear more than 11,000 roadside incidents in Reno. The service is sponsored by State Farm.
Driving Safety Tips
— Keep your car in good condition, including routine maintenance and checks.
— Always buckle up. Never drive impaired or while sleepy or distracted.
— Drive attentively, not aggressively. Continually scan the road ahead of you to be prepared.
— Do not speed. Space your vehicle far enough from other cars so you have time to avoid potential crashes.
— Keep updated on current state road conditions by logging onto nvroads.com or dialing 511 before driving.
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