This is an important editor's column for me. According to my files, this is the 50th time that I have had the privilege of sharing my thoughts and experiences with you. I consider it an honor and a privilege to work with the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman's Association on the critical issue of highway safety.
My work here at Respondersafety.com allows me the privilege of providing you with a body of critical information so that you folks out there around the world will get to go home safely at the end of your tour of duty. I work to make sure that you have the best information possible.
This can be a taxing and time-consuming task. No matter how hard we work here at the Emergency Response Safety Institute people in the emergency service world seem to keep getting struck, injured, and killed.
As I mentioned in my last visit with you the pressures of this job do not seem to let up. Folks are being injured and killed every day. Not a day that goes by where at least one struck-bys is reported; most days more. I find that from time to time I need to step back and let my brain go into neutral. So it was during the month of January.
It was my intention to spend several days in Sarasota, Florida with my circus-music-playing buddies in the Windjammers Unlimited group. We meet each January to engage in our hobby, which is the playing of vintage circus music. This would be the type that people nearing the age of 60 might remember from their youth. We played from morning until night for several days. It was a blast.
However, I could not escape the strong pull of my duties as your editor. I spent a little time each day reviewing the messages forwarded to me by Howard Cohen, our association attorney. Howard is the man who shakes the Internet tree every day to see what sort of "struck-by" incident fall into his lap. Once he determines that they are related to our mission, he sends them to me. I then add them to the Fast Lane column, as well as to the Fast Lane Archives.
Trust me when I tell you that there were a number of such incidents while I was in Florida. However there was more than that at work in my vacation world.
One of the issues in which we at Respondersafety believe most fervently is the concept of the "Move-Over Law." These are pieces of state legislation which seek to provide a safer environment for emergency service workers on our highways. They do this by specifying how drivers are to operate their vehicles when they encounter a highway emergency.
Most of these laws require that a driver slow down and move over into another traffic lane if possible. At the very least motorists in "move-over law" states must slow down as they approach police, fire, and EMS workers operating on the highway. The idea is to provide as safe an operating zone as possible.
Wouldn't you know it my friends; there was a move-over law enforcement campaign ongoing in the area of Florida where we were holding our circus music meet. The campaign was being held in both Manatee and Sarasota counties. I saw the enforcement teams publicized on television and encountered them on the highways.
I was pleased to see such hard work being done by the law enforcement community. I say this because it bothers me that we are still seeing a never-ending array of these accidents and incidents every week. In my last column I posed a question about how to attack the problem of struck-by incidents on our highways. These law enforcement agencies have taken the bull by the horns and gone out to personally educate the public.
Even as I readied myself to return to New Jersey I could not escape the move-over law education program. As I was gassing up my car in Debary, Florida, I noted educational reminders on the front side of every gas pump at the station where I was purchasing my fuel. There were pictures of police, fire/EMS, and highway workers on a photo decal reminding folks of the Florida Move-Over Law. Not a bad idea. This could be a relatively inexpensive approach that every state with a move-over law could adopt.
It was my good fortune to have a nice compartment on the Autotrain. Traveling with my car on the Autotrain is a great way to get to Florida. It eliminates a lot of driving and allows you to have your own car when you arrive. As I was motoring north from the Autotrain terminal in Lorton, Virginia my thoughts were of home and family. The traffic was light and I was making great time moving up Interstate 95.
As I was traveling up Interstate 495 in Maryland, I noted a dark cloud of smoke on the horizon ahead. As quickly as I hoped it would not be on the highway, I rounded a bend and encountered a blazing garbage truck to the right side of the road, on the shoulder. Here is where I get to tell you some great things about the Prince George's County Fire Department.
The first thing I noticed was a sign board unit directing people around the accident. Then there was a blocking vehicle. There was also a police cruiser on the scene in a great location between the blocking unit and the pumper which was positioned at a 45 degree angle.
As I was passing the pumper I noted that the hose was being stretched by firefighters operating from the protected side of the pumper. They were proceeding to operate on the shoulder side of the blazing vehicle. By then I was past the incident and on my way north.My hat is off to the troops in the Prince George's County Fire Department. Their operation was a great example of how we should all be operating out on the highways.
Let me close with a short comment on the Interstate Highway 80 confrontation between local fire officials and a New Jersey State Trooper in my very own state. The two fire personnel were chastised by a judge for failing to obey a trooper.
They apologized to the trooper and all charges were dropped. Let me add that the trooper was transferred to another assignment in another area of the Garden State.
Let me also remind you that there were and are operational procedures which are to be used in the Morris County where this incident occurred. These operational guidelines were created by all parties who operate on the highways of Morris County, New Jersey.
Our state fire marshal, Larry Petrillo, is working see that a set of state-wide highway operational procedures is created. Fire Marshal Petrillo is to be commended for getting out in front of this serious matter in short order.
We all need to become involved in the process of improving operational safety, whether It is on the highways or on the fireground. We owe it to our families and our coworkers.