My friends, this has not been a great winter. My family and I have spent more time digging out from snow this year than in any in recent memory. However, the calendar tells us all that it is spring, even if Mother Nature and the weatherman are now helping to convince us of this reality. With the arrival of warm weather comes an increase in the level of traffic on our highways. The traffic to which I make reference is made up of vacation travel and family visiting. There is a potential for added problems for you and I as we operate on the highways of our operational areas.

The problems you will face may seem similar, but they will be caused for different reasons. Normally you face the wrath of people on the way to work. Hey you in the red fire truck! Why are you in my way? I have to get to work. I have to get to the mall to shop. How dare you slow down me in the pursuit of my life?

If these examples do not strike a responsive chord with you, than you are really lucky, or you live on a desert island. Impatience is a rampant epidemic in our society and when we go out on the road to cover a wreck or a fire, we place ourselves in the cross-hairs of the motoring public.

The danger is no less great during the warm weather traveling season. You have the usual array of anger and stupidity, but it is supplemented by a healthy dose of ignorance. You know the ignorance to which I make reference. It is an ignorance born of a number of factors.

In the first case, people will attempt to go to places where they have never been. They will be easy to recognize. They are the ones who will be trying to drive while reading a map. You will hopefully have some warning. I am referring to the weaving motions a motor vehicle makes as its driver decides whether to go straight, make a left turn, or stop dead in the center of the road.

Let me urge you to take special pains to prepare for the spring and summer traffic season. Review your highway safety standard operating procedures. Update them as needed. If you do not have SOP's, go to our pull-down menus and take a look at what Respondersafety.com has provided for you.

Teach your people about stopping distances. Try to impress upon them the fact that vehicle drivers will travel a certain amount of distance while attempting to make a proper stop before they reach you. The phrase "stop on a dime" was a clever advertising gimmick and nothing more.

Provide your people with the proper reflective clothing and insure that they are trained to wear it properly. Equip your team with enough traffic cones, signs, and barricade devices to insure that they are kept as safe as possible.

If you believe that you are different from the rest of the emergency service world, and that safety is for sissies, be ready for a trip to the hospital if you are lucky and the morgue if you are not. You need to have an array of bright clothing and effective warning signs and devices if you are to have any chance at operating safely on the highways and byways of our great nation.

Exemptions from safety are not granted to any of us because of the rightness of our work. Neither are any of us exempt from the laws of physics which tell us all that a body in motion tends to remain in motion. If you do not believe this law, just try to suddenly slow and stop a car on a wet road, in order to make a turn in that road you just recognized a being where your cousin lives.

Many people think that our words here at Respondersafety.com are geared for major interstate highways and turnpikes. They are not. My friends, emergency service workers have died on any type of highway you can imagine.

My personal experience in dealing with stupid drivers remains fresh and vibrant. I want to assure you that each time I respond to and operate upon a highway of any type I try to keep my wits about me. The chance to encounter danger is for me a frequent occurrence. The Adelphia Fire Company operates on a number of extremely active state and county highways.

In order to do our work safely, we have equipped our fire police unit with the latest in Type III highway reflective vests. We also provide a special fire police unit with a wide array of cones and signs. They have worked very hard to keep the rest of us safe. They work hand-in-hand with the local police here in Howell Township to keep the traffic rolling while the troops are toiling.

I would hope that you seriously consider preparing for the coming warm weather season. Safety does not happen by chance: accidents happen by chance.

By the way, if you happen to find yourself in Indianapolis for the Fire Department Instructors Conference, please stop by our booth and share your time and talents with the usual cast of brightly-frocked highway safety folks. Take care and stay safe.