This week the Wyoming Highway Patrol joins forces with the National Crash Responder Safety Week (CRSW) to bring to light the courageous and often underrepresented stories of local responders. Every day, these heroes put their lives at risk to ensure roads are safe and functional.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol, in a press release, said the department works roadway crashes every day with partners, including firefighters, emergency medical services, law enforcement, towing and recovery, public works and safety service patrols. Collectively, these traffic incident responders assist road users in need, applying well-rehearsed procedures to provide emergency traffic control and quickly clear incidents from roadways.

“We work roadside often inches from cars and trucks going by way too fast, sometimes 80 miles per hour or more,” said Lt. Kyle McKay. “We want drivers in Wyoming to understand the risks that we take every day and the need for every vehicle passing by any traffic incident to slow down, move over, and stay alert.”

These stories underscore the necessity for initiatives like Crash Responder Safety Week. The Federal Highway Administration, along with national partners, states and local responders, are invested in this event to reduce the number of traffic incidents involving responders who suffer injuries or lose their lives in the line of duty. Since the start of this year through October, tragically, first responders have been killed, and countless others have endured life-altering injuries.

The national event promotes Move Over law awareness for drivers and free National Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Responder Training for responders:

• When passing an incident scene, motorists are asked to slow down and, if possible, move over into an adjacent lane to provide a protective buffer between responders and motorists.

• Local responders are encouraged to take the free TIM Responder training at ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tim/training/ to stay updated on best practices. By the end of the year 2023, 700,000 responders will have been trained through free in-person or online instructor-led or online self-paced courses.

“We are very proud that we have trained a significant number of crash responders in our state,” said Wyoming Highway Patrol Col. Tim Cameron. “While drivers can make a big difference through their vigilance, training is also a critical part of the effort to save lives, reduce injuries, and decrease traffic incident clearance times.”