Happy Holidays from PennTIME!

Posted: December 11, 2023 

As 2023 draws to a close, we extend our very best wishes to all of you for a safe and joyous holiday season.  

Collectively, we have done a lot of great work over the past year. However, there is much left to be done.  PennTIME leadership will be working diligently in the weeks ahead to chart the course for 2024.  One of our keywords in the new year will be "accountability", and we plan to lean heavily into our members and their respective agencies to help drive the PennTIME mission forward.

Accountability applies to everyone, and it is not something that can be used simply when convenient.  Whether at the agency level or individual level.... you either have it or you don't.  Accountability is the glue that ties a commitment to the results.  

After many decades of TIM efforts, we must collectively shift our mindsets away from the idea that struck-by incidents are always "everybody else's fault."  We are not exempted from responsibility for the safety of ourselves or others among our ranks merely by the virtue of the uniforms we wear or the apparatus we operate.  We must hold ourselves accountable to always operating safely at traffic incident scenes, and owning the results if we don't.  We know that drivers are more distracted than ever before, yet we often refuse to change our collective culture to save our own lives.  Each year, the number of struck-by fatalities and injuries that we lament are just another grim reminder that this approach simply does not work.

We must embrace the idea of converting words and sentiments into action.  We must identify goals and objectives, and we must hold ourselves accountable for achieving them.  Only then can we hope to see any measurable change.  Peace and goodwill to all this holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2024.

 

About Us

Organized in 2017, PennTIME serves TIM practitioners across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is the realization of a vision first set forth in a study conducted by the Pennsylvania State Transportation Advisory Committee (STAC) in 2014. The study shed light on numerous gaps in Pennsylvania's Traffic Incident Management efforts and set forth targeted recommendations for improvement. A priority among these recommendations was the creation of a statewide TIM program to provide structure, guidance, and promote consistent practices throughout the commonwealth. Key focus areas for PennTIME include:

  • Assigning institutional responsibility across the state
  • Improving bidirectional communication at the state, regional, and local levels
  • Expanding the use of FHWA TIM Self‐Assessments
  • Investing in resources to improve TIM performance measurement data
  • Establishing uniform scene safety and management guidelines
  • Creating towing certification and cost recovery programs
  • Implementing uniform After‐Action Review procedures
  • Advancing operations‐related projects that address the tenets of the National Unified Goal for TIM
  • Working to advance dedicated TIM funding line items in the state budget

A TIM Summit in late 2016 brought together TIM professionals and champions from across Pennsylvania as well as other states in a collaborative environment to share information and best practices with the goal of advancing the recommendations outlined in the STAC study, and from there PennTIME was born. Key stakeholders met to begin the process of forming PennTIME in January 2017, and that was followed by the groups first meeting in April 2017. PennTIME has met on a quarterly basis since that time and has made great strides in advancing TIM efforts in Pennsylvania, and in August 2018 a formal statewide Inter‐Agency Agreement validated PennTIME's organizational structure, committees, and general procedures.

Program News & Updates

Pennsylvania TIM E-Learning

  • Did you know that Pennsylvania first responders can take their TIM training online? To access the training, simply go to the TRAIN PA website at https://www.train.org/pa/welcome. If you have an existing user account, you can simply log in and use the word “TIM” in the search bar to find the blended learning course. If you don’t have an account, please create one to access the course. Municipal Law Enforcement personnel can take the course through the Pennsylvania Virtual Training Network (PAVTN). Authorized users can simply go to the Virtual Training Network website at www.pavtn.net. Simply log in, click the link for "Training", and then navigate to the "Programs and Systems" curriculum to find the Pennsylvania Traffic Incident Management course (CLEO01022) The PA TIM Training has been fully vetted by the FHWA and has been granted full equivalency status. Multiple credit types have been approved including:

    • Professional Development Hours (PDH) – 4 Hours
    • Continuing Law Enforcement Education (CLEE) MPOETC – 4 Hours
    • Continuing Education Units (CEU) – PA DOH Bureau of EMS – 4 Hours If you’ve never taken this training, now is an excellent time to get it done and get certified. If you’ve taken it before, we encourage you to take it again as a refresher and take a look at the new videos and other interactive content that has been developed for the course. We look forward to your participation in the course and receiving any feedback you may have.
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