The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently announced Traffic Incident Response Week November 13 – 17, 2017. The annual campaign aims to increase driver awareness of the importance of clearing way for motorists and first responders on the roadside.
The Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is the leading agency for the Regional Emergency Action Coordination Team (REACT), which was established to provide traffic control assistance so emergency services can focus on their responsibilities. Every day first responders risk their lives to assist those involved in traffic incidents. According to the FHWA, traffic incidents are the leading cause of death for emergency responders and law enforcement officers.
REACT provides on-call traffic management on arterial roads within Maricopa County and serving the cities of Avondale, Glendale, Peoria, Tolleson and Scottsdale. Thanks to programs like REACT, there have been no secondary crashes while REACT is present and/or has established traffic control at an incident. In the last year, the REACT team responded to more than 180 incident callouts.
The goals of the REACT program are to improve safety and security at an incident scene including everyone involved in the incident and to minimize the effect to the traveling public by providing traffic control to keep traffic moving and alert motorists of the incident. REACT will inform motorists of alternate routes, close traffic lanes and clear the roadway of vehicles and debris.
