Keeping the roadways safe

The District Two incident management program optimizes traffic clearance procedures to keep our roadways safe. Under this line of service, we deal with Traffic Incident Management (TIM), Road Rangers, RISC, and Safe Tow.

Traffic Incident Management (TIM)

  • District Two has two Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Teams, the First Coast, serving the eastern portion of the District, and the Alachua/Bradford Team, which covers Alachua and Bradford Counties.   
  • The TIM Team’s mission is to improve communication, coordination, and collaboration between all agencies involved in clearing incidents, with the objective of improving detection, verification, response, and clearance times to expeditiously remove a motor vehicle crash or incident from the roadway while providing the best real-time information to motorists, resulting in a safer roadway environment for both incident responders and motorists.  
  • The TIM Teams hold meetings on a bimonthly basis, each team meeting in separate months. TIM meetings cover various topics, including but not limited to active construction projects and associated lane shifts and lane closures, ITS/511/RTMC updates, TIM related Performance Measures, an overview of major incidents since the last meeting, Road Ranger updates, and open discussion for all stakeholders. These meetings also include training, when available, and provide a forum for communications, coordination, and collaboration between the region’s first responders and stakeholders. 

Road Rangers

  • The District Two Road Ranger Service Patrol (RRSP) Program plays a key role in incident management. Road Rangers aid the RTMC and first responders with responding to and removing vehicle incidents on the roadway in a safe and efficient manner. Their main goal is to keep the highways safe and clear. 
  • Road Rangers provide basic roadside assistance services for motorists such as providing fuel, changing flat tires, and minor vehicle repairs. Road Rangers also provide real-time information to the Regional Traffic Management Center (RTMC) regarding accidents, congestion, disabled vehicles, and road debris. 
  • Road Rangers are often the first responders on scene, as they are always on the road on their designated routes which causes them to run into incidents. When this occurs, Road Rangers are responsible for notifying the RTMC of the incident, entering pertinent information into the Smartphone Application for Road Rangers (SPARR), protecting the scene with available Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) devices, and providing first-aid to the motorist to the extent they are capable. Once other first responders arrive on the scene, the Road Ranger Operator continues to provide MOT for scene and personnel safety and updates the RTMC until they are either relieved or the incident is cleared.

RISC

  • The Rapid Incident Scene Clearance (RISC) Program is an initiative by FDOT, in conjunction with Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), that contracts towing companies to provide quick, safe clearances of major roadway incidents. By removing incidents from the roadway, in a faster manner, RISC reduces congestion on the roadway, thus reducing the chance of a second incident caused by the first. 
  • Examples of RISC classified events include large vehicle crashes, such as tractor trailers, box trucks, and boats that are overturned or damaged to the point where the vehicle cannot be towed by a smaller tow truck on the interstate. The RISC contractors have specialized equipment, including a rotational wrecker, and deploy trained personnel to quickly remove vehicles and debris from the travel lanes. 
  • RISC Lite is a smaller scale version of RISC as it is meant for smaller accidents that do not have the need for RISC type equipment, like a rotator wrecker. RISC Lite operates on I-75 within Alachua County from CR-234/ Exit 374 to US-441/ US-41/ Exit 414.

Safe Tow

  • District Two’s SafeTow program assists in promoting the State’s Open Roads Policy and provides vehicle removal services to motorists who are obstructing traffic on State Roads. This program provides safety for both the motorists impeding traffic as well as the motoring public. Road Rangers conduct the SafeTow by transporting the motorist and disabled vehicle to the nearest exit.

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