Wisconsin incident management agreement signed by transportation stakeholders

August 28, 2012

A compact aimed at coordinating incident response on Wisconsin highways was formally signed by transportation stakeholder organizations at an event held at Wisconsin Dells today at the 38th Annual Governor’s Conference on Highway Safety.

The agreement aims to coordinate incident management to improve responder and motorist safety, minimize traffic and community impacts, and reduce increasing costs related to traffic incidents.

In signing the compact, WisDOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb was joined by representatives from the Wisconsin State Patrol, Federal Highway Administration, Wisconsin County Highway Association, Wisconsin Sheriff’s and Deputy Sheriff’s Association, Wisconsin Towing Association, Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs’ Association, Wisconsin EMS Association, and Wisconsin State Firefighter’s Association.

All traffic incidents require a response and impact the roadway system. Statistics show:

• Traffic incidents are the leading cause of death for EMS responders and law enforcement officers.
• Traffic incidents account for up to one fourth of all congestion on roadways.
• In 2011, a study conducted by AAA found that the total cost of traffic crashes is over three times the cost of congestion – $299.5 billion for traffic crashes and $97.7 billion for congestion. In the Milwaukee area, the cost of traffic crashes was $2.117 billion, while the cost of congestion was $570 million.
• The average motorist loses nearly a full workweek (36 hours) sitting in traffic due to traffic incidents.
• Americans burn more than 2.8 billion gallons of fuel each year while stuck in incident-related traffic (nearly 24 gallons of gas per driver).
• In the U.S. the cost of a fatal crash is $6 million, and an injury incident is $126,000, both up by 85 percent over a four-year period. The costs include lost earnings, medical costs, emergency services, property damage and travel delays, among others.
• Ultimately, the cost of crashes and resulting delays hurt the state’s economy and increase the prices of goods and services.

The agreement signed today pledges participation in the state Traffic Incident Management Enhancement (TIME) program through performance measurements, identification of improvement strategies, promotion of best practices, and training.

For more information, contact:
Bill Wondrachek, WisDOT Traffic Operations
(414) 227-2157, (414) 313-2276