Skip to main content

Emergency response day kicks off at ITS America in Pittsburgh

Don’t forget to make some time for Emergency Response Day 2015 tomorrow--an annual event at the ITS America Annual Meeting and Expo since 2011. Conference attendees will have the ability to engage with emergency responders as they act out a Traffic Incident Management (TIM) scenario, complete with a planning meeting, training, a staged incident and after-action review. Local first responders will participate, including firefighters, police, tow vehicles and traffic management engineers from Allegheny County
June 1, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Don’t forget to make some time for Emergency Response Day 2015 tomorrow--an annual event at the ITS America Annual Meeting and Expo since 2011. Conference attendees will have the ability to engage with emergency responders as they act out a Traffic Incident Management (TIM) scenario, complete with a planning meeting, training, a staged incident and after-action review. Local first responders will participate, including firefighters, police, tow vehicles and traffic management engineers from Allegheny County.

A hack-a-thon will also be held in the afternoon. Conference attendees, first responders and participants from local universities will work together to develop application ideas to solve major data, communications and safety issues in the world of TIM and emergency response. The winning application will be invited to the Emergency Response Symposium in September held by ITS New York and the Transportation Safety Advancement Group to present their application to industry leaders.

“We really want to get ITS technology companies to think about emergency response and how they can make first responders’ jobs easier,” said Doug Smith, director of transportation planning for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. “It’s a great opportunity to get these two groups together to come up with solutions for safety and traffic management.”

The day will start at 9:30 am in room 336 (upstairs from the exhibit hall) with a welcome address and an overview of the day’s events. Emergency responders will then demonstrate the lifecycle of the TIM process from planning to debriefing with a focus on where data and new applications could assist first responders. Teams will be formed via speed dating format, and the Data Jam, essentially a hack-a-thon, will begin after lunch. The winning application will be announced at 4:30 pm.

Emergency Response Day 2015 is sponsored by Transportation Safety Advancement Group (TSAG) and the Motorola Solutions Foundation. The event is free for conference attendees, students and emergency responders in uniform.

Related Content

  • Cannabis and cars don’t mix
    October 28, 2022
    Increased – legal – cannabis use has created increased – illegal – use by drivers. Adam Hill looks at a new report which advises State Highway Safety Offices on tackling the issue
  • ITS America urges greater international co-operation on ITS
    January 19, 2012
    Iteris, Inc.'s Abbas Mohaddes talks about his plans for ITS America this year
  • Nokia powers future of highways – one network at a time
    April 28, 2025

     

    Cutting-edge ITS technologies are exciting — with their potential for delivering safer, more sustainable and efficient highway travel. But they don’t operate in isolation. To perform at their best, they need a mission-critical communications network with outstanding capabilities, supporting connectivity from the roadside spanning the wide area to the data centre.

  • Australian ITS summit focus on safety, congestion, sustainability
    July 24, 2012
    From 18-20 November 2009, the Australian Intelligent Transport Systems Summit will be held in Melbourne. Tim Pallas, Victorian Minister for Roads and Ports sets the scene and explains its objectives. Co-hosted by the Victorian Government and ITS Australia, the Australian Intelligent Transport Systems Summit (ITS 09), being held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, is expected to attract in excess of 300 delegates with presentations and workshops providing a comprehensive update of ITS technologi