Traffic Incident Management Program

Due largely to its heavy involvement with and promotion of the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) program, AZDPS maintains a six to seven percent secondary crash rate on Arizona highways. This is one of the lowest secondary crash rates in the country. TIM consists of a planned and coordinated multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow may be restored as safely and quickly as possible. Effective TIM reduces the duration and impact of traffic incidents which reduces secondary collisions. Less secondary collisions improves the safety of motorists, crash victims and emergency responders. 

Arizona has trained 5,698 responders in the TIM program, which is approximately 25.3% of total responders. In FY2016, AZDPS hosted three statewide TIM “train the trainer” sessions with the Federal Highway Administration. Seventy-five responders from law enforcement, fire, EMS, towing and the Department of Transportation attended the training to become TIM instructors. Currently, all troopers and Freeway Service Patrol personnel assigned to the Highway Patrol Division are TIM trained. The department established a statewide TIM instructor network using troopers in patrol districts statewide, and they facilitate an ongoing multi-disciplinary TIM training statewide for all other agencies.

The department also chairs the AZTech TIM Coalition and the Strategic Highway Safety Plan TIM emphasis area. These efforts expanded statewide partnerships from local county and tribal agencies and completed a TIM coalition charter. These efforts by the department also completed both Implementation and Action Plans governing TIM strategies and goals, and increased public education and awareness campaigns. TIM training is mandatory in AZDPS tow contracts.