The Emergency Responder Safety Institute (ERSI), a committee of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association (CVVFA), reports that vehicles struck and killed 44 emergency responders who were working various types of roadway incidents in 2019.
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2019 ERSI Struck-By-Vehicle Fatality Spreadsheet
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2020 ERSI Struck-By-Vehicle Fatality Spreadsheet
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In 2020, ERSI , conducted a nationwide survey of over 899 fire service and EMS personnel to gather their opinions regarding helmet use at roadway incidents.
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2021 ERSI Struck-by-Vehicle Fatality Incidents Data – as of December 31, 2021 (Year-End Totals)
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2022 ERSI Struck-By-Vehicle Fatality Incidents Data – as of 12/31/2022
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2023 ERSI Struck-By-Vehicle Fatality Incidents Data – as of 12/31/2023
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2024 ERSI Struck-By-Vehicle Fatality Incidents Data – as of 4/11/2024
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To prevent injuries and deaths resulting from accidents involving POV responses.
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Through synthesis of current research on highway work zone safety with input from participants in a December 1998 workshop, this document offers measures that contractors, agencies, policymakers, manufacturers, law enforcement, and the research community can take to reduce occupational injuries in highway work zones.
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Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association National Fire Police Summit- March 6 & 7, 1999
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“Effects of Emergency Vehicle Lighting Characteristics on Driver Perception and Behavior: Study Report” is an ERSI report of human factors research in cooperation with RPI and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The study investigates the impact of lighting color, intensity, modulation, flash rate, and presence of retroreflective chevron markings on driver behavior while traversing a simulated traffic incident scene at night. Findings cover the effects of lamp intensity, lamp color, and retroreflective markings on the visibility of a simulated responder at a test incident scene. Whether these factors create a “moth to flame” effect was also examined. The report describes the experiment design, the tasks researchers completed, and the results observed.
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This report, produced in partnership between the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA), analyzes emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity with an eye toward expanding efforts in these areas to improve vehicle and roadway operations safety for all emergency responders. Emphasis in this report is placed on passive visibility/conspicuity treatments. Key finidings include additional research on emergency vehicle visibility and
conspicuity in the United States, with particular emphasis on the interaction between civilian drivers and emergency vehicles during responses and on incident scenes.
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Following a brief literature review, this research project conducted a comparison of the different flares and related traffic control devices in order to identify and examine alternative highway flare systems utilizing chemical or electric sources of energy to determine their suitability and visibility.
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This report details the history of how the current fire apparatus lighting standards were developed, summarizes the last 20 years of research on emergency lighting, and has the results of a study done in May 2019 specifically addressing what changes should be made to fire apparatus lighting standards in response to the change to LED lighting.
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This report summarizes a workshop convened during the 2018 National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week on how to harden blocking vehicles to protect responders and the public.
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This ERSI study reports the results of a field experiment to investigate the impacts of emergency vehicle marking color, retroreflectivity level and spatial patterns on drivers’ ability to see emergency responders working near their vehicles was carried out. The study also examined the impacts of a wearable flashing LED light.
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This color-coded map indicates the U.S. states with Move Over laws. Courtesy of AAA.
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This report summarizes the data on fatal occupational injuries in the year 2005, covering all occupational groups. Fatal highway accidents were the most frequent type of fatal workplace event. Data is broken down in several ways, including by type of incident, by industry, by occupation, by demographics, and by State. Multiple full data tables are presented.
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Career Fire Fighter Dies When Backed Over While Spotting an
Apparatus - New Jersey
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This report from the National Fire Protection Association summarizes the data for on-duty deaths of fire-police officers from 1991-2010, including demographic characteristics, nature of injury, and type of duty. Further detail on the specifics of some incidents is also presented.
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This statement presents the position of the CVVFA Emergency Responder Safety Institute on the use of temporary traffic signs for advance warning at roadway incidents.
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This document looks at the progress on implementing recommendations from “Protecting Emergency Responders on the Highways: A White Paper by the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association” in the ten years since the original summit convened and makes additional recommendations for the continuing effort to reduce the incidence of secondary incidents.
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This document presents recommendations from a highway responder summit (and subsequent panel review) chaired by the CVVFA that looked into the scope, causes, and potential solutions to the problem of secondary incidents at highway response scenes. The recommendations in this document fall under five major subject headings -- training, operations, human resources, public education, and legislation/regulation/research/standards.
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This project identified concepts and tools to help fire service leaders create a robust diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan to attract TIM personnel to their organization, ensure underrepresented populations are empowered to serve, and retain diverse personnel. Examples of organizations who are actively employing effective DEI tools and techniques are highlighted.
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This chart summarizes the Slow Down, Move Over laws in U.S. states, with code citations and vehicle types covered by the statute. Compiled by AAA. As laws do change, please confirm any citation is current when you access it.
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A Review of First Responder Agencies Who Have Adopted Emergency Lighting and Vehicle Conspicuity Technology.
*A new draft and been issued on June 12, 2019 with two corrections on page 27.*
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This report from the Emergency Responder Safety Institute details the findings of a panel convened to review typical functions performed by emergency responders at roadway incidents in an effort to develop a set of job performance requirements for the job functions critical to safe emergency operations at roadway incidents. This report discusses the process utilized, outlines the specific job performance requirements for critical positions assigned to emergency responders and provides guidance on the use of the requirements by potential users and training organizations.
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This paper summarizes the proceedings of a workshop convened by the Emergency
Responder Safety Institute during the 2018 National Traffic Incident Response Awareness
Week to envision the future of roadway incident response safety and traffic incident
management and as a Twenty Year Review of the original 1999 White Paper "Protecting Emergency Responders on the Highway".
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This report from the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) provides guidance to local-level fire departments on compliance with the Department of Transportation’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and the National Fire Service Incident Management System Consortium’s (NFSIMSC’s) Model Procedures Guide for Highway Incidents. This document details incident case studies, describes equipment to improve highway safety, shows how to set up a safe traffic incident management area, explains incident command for highway incidents, and lists best practices and other sources of information on effective highway incident operations.
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