Top emergency-response organizations have joined with leading traffic-safety groups in a campaign to improve highway safety and efficiency.

The cornerstone of the effort, which was rolled out for the 2007–08 holiday season, is the National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management (NUG for short). Under the NUG, responder organizations pledge to work together to improve communication and coordination at crash scenes, with a goal of minimizing factors that can delay road clearance. In turn, they ask motorists to slow down and move over when they approach incident scenes, hopefully reducing the number of responders hurt and killed by passing vehicles.

Traffic congestion costs the U.S. around $200 billion a year, Federal Highway Administrator J. Richard Capka said in supporting the NUG, and traffic incidents account for about a quarter of it. For every minute a freeway lane is blocked during a peak travel period, four minutes' delay result after the incident is cleared.

The effort is being led by the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition. Participating member organizations include the National Association of State EMS Officials, International Association of Fire Fighters, International Association of Fire Chiefs, National Fire Protection Association, National Volunteer Fire Council, National Emergency Number Association and Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International.

"If you or your family members are involved in a crash, you will depend on our emergency medical system to care for you," NASEMSO's Kevin McGinnis told the public as the NUG was unveiled. "We ask that you, in turn, care for us. We join with other traffic incident responders in asking that you slow down and move over when you see ambulance crews and other responders working at crash scenes."

For more information: http://www.timcoalition.org.

—NTIMC