The TIME Task Force held its Annual Conference on October 3-4, 2011 at the Unicoi State Park and Lodge in the scenic north Georgia mountains. The theme of this year’s conference is “Opening Roads – Better, Faster, Safer.” The Conference provided attendees with an update on progress that has been made thus far by the TIME community, provided information on best practices and state-of-the-art advancements in traffic incident management being used locally and from around the country, and facilitated valuable sharing of lessons learned among traffic managers and incident responders. Current state-of-the-art technologies were showcased by conference exhibitors, sponsors, and vendors, while social activities provided networking opportunities for all delegates. In short, the TIME Conference highlighted how working together, we can open Georgia’s roads in a manner that is better, faster, and safer.

Better. TIME has provided training opportunities, incident debriefs, executive briefings, quarterly and TIM team meetings, annual conferences, and countless other opportunities for TIME stakeholders to learn, share, and collaborate. New and improved guidelines, policies, procedures, emerging technologies, and innovative approaches were showcased at the Conference to ensure Georgia maintains its standing as one of the best traffic incident management programs in the country.

Faster. TIME has been instrumental in helping metro Atlanta responders reduce incident delay and costs to the traveling public and commercial carriers by clearing incidents more quickly than ever before. Traffic congestion caused by incidents continues to adversely impact our quality of life in countless ways, and affects the environmental, social, and economic well-being of our state.  Quick clearance is key to lessening these impacts, and will be a focus of the Conference.

Safer. TIME has played a pivotal role in enhancing the safety of both on-scene responders and motorists passing by and approaching incident scenes. However, lives continue to be jeopardized as responders are exposed to injury and even death, and motorists are subjected to increased risk of secondary crashes when incidents are not managed effectively. The Conference will highlight current and proposed operational policies and procedures, equipment, and training that help to lessen the hazards posed by traffic incidents