Managing Traffic Incidents - University of Queensland

(Continued from page 3)
Field based traffic controllers, covering four
sectors across Sydney, have been introduced
by RTA NSW to take charge of on-site traffic
control at incidents.
Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA)
has recently introduced HEROs (Highway
Emergency Response Operations), based on
the US Georgia Department of Transportation
program which gained prominence during the
1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. HEROs operate
primarily on the 60 km freeway network in
the Perth Metropolitan area. Currently there
are three HERO units during peak periods and
one off peak, on week days. The officers have
an innovative working arrangement where
they spend 3-4 hours of their 12 hour shift on
the road, followed by a period at the console
in the control centre taking calls from the public,
monitoring the freeway network through
the SCATS traffic system and CCTVs and
responding to incidents.
Incident Management across Australia
Their primary objective is to rapidly respond
to incidents such as a stopped vehicles
obstructing traffic to reduce the extent of the
congestion impact, by coordinating responses
from the automobile club, towing service or
police to clear the blockage.
An international conference on incident
management Smart.Traffic was held in May
2001 in Brisbane. For more information see
www.transportroundtable.com.au.
Links
Main Roads Queensland – www.mainroads.qld.gov.au
Brisbane City Council – www.brisbane.qld.gov.au
University of Queensland – www.uq.edu.au/dia
Roads & Traffic Authority of NSW
– www.rta.nsw.gov.au
VicRoads – www.vicroads.vic.gov.au
Melbourne CityLink – www.transurban.com.au
MI Transport Systems – www.mi-services-group.com
Transport South Australia – www.transport.sa.gov.au
Transport Roundtable Australasia
– www.transportroundtable.com.au
Main Roads Western Australia – www.mrwa.wa.gov.au
Location Planning & coordination Detection Incident Management
System
Response
Brisbane Queensland
– Department of Main
Roads (state roads)
– Cooperative Road
Management Project
– Operation Free Flow with
Police
– Public telephone calls
– CCTV
– Some AID (loops)
– STREAMS traffic system
– Primarily manual
– Developing DSS system
under STREAMS
– Towing service by auto
club (RACQ)
– VMS signs
Brisbane Queensland
– Brisbane City (local
roads)
– Incident Management
Strategy
– Public telephone calls
– CCTV
– BLISS traffic system
– Primarily manual – Traffic Response Units
(National Response)
– Commercial radio
Sydney NSW – Roads &
Traffic Authority
Melbourne Victoria
– VicRoads
Melbourne City Link
Tollway
Adelaide South
Australia – Transport SA
– Transport Management
Centre
– Network and Transport
Operations business
model
– RTA-Police MoU
– Public and agency
telephone calls & radio
– 400 CCTVs
– AID (loops) under
development
– SCATS congestion alarms
– Public telephone calls
– CCTV
– AID (loops)
– Access to Police radio
– Public telephone calls
– CCTV
– AID (video)
– Mobile units
– Public telephone calls
– CCTV
– Some AID (loops)
– Developing integrated
DSS
– Manage planned incidents
and events
– Semi-automatic DSS
– Manage planned incidents
and events
– Fully integrated DSS (MI
Transport Systems)
– Traffic Commanders
– Towing service
– Traffic Emergency Patrols
– VMS, VSL and
commercial radio
– Incident management
teams
– Towing service
– Incident response units
(National Response)
– Towing service
– VMS
– Manual system – Towing service
– VMS
Perth Western
Australia – Main Roads
WA
– Public telephone calls
– CCTV
– Trialling AID (video)
– Manual
– Implementing integrated
DSS (staged)
– HERO
– Towing service
– VMS
AID – automated incident detection CCTV – closed circuit television DSS – decision support system
HERO – Highway Emergency Response Operations MOU – Memorandum of Understanding VMS – variable message signs
VSL – variable speed limits
4 DECEMBER 2001