Talking TIM Webinar Series: September 2021

Talking TIM: Rural Roadway Strategies for Incident Management

State and local Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programs cover a broad range of maturity from emerging programs to those that are advanced. The Talking TIM Webinar Series seeks to provide a forum where TIM champions with any level of experience can exchange information about current practices, programs, and technologies. Each month, Talking TIM will highlight successful programs, identify best practices, and showcase technology that advances the profession.

The September 2021 webinar will focus on rural roadway strategies for incident management. Speakers featured in this webinar will be: 

• Jamie Sullivan, Director, National Center for Rural Road Safety, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, will provide context for the role of TIM within broader rural roadway safety.
• Megan Patent-Nygren, Training Program Coordinator - Managerial-Professional, Nebraska Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), will cover response strategies for incidents involving livestock.
• Sheriff Ron Spikes, Yates County, New York will share the challenges for managing incidents involving rural transport such as horse drawn carriages and agricultural equipment.
• Martha Eddy, Program Manager, Battelle will discuss the ongoing research into the unique challenges, good practices, and opportunities to assist rural responders and motorists to improve safety and incident mitigation of rural roadways.

Paul Jodoin and Jim Austrich, FHWA Office of Operations, organize and moderate this webinar series hosted by the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE). To view previous topics in this webinar series, please visit the FHWA sponsored Talking TIM webinar site.

Speaker Bios

Martha Eddy (Battelle): Martha Morecock Eddy is Battelle’s Transportation Operations and Policy Program Manager. She has a BS degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, over 30 years experience in transportation and advanced transportation technologies, and is the Project Manager for FHWA’s TIM for Rural Environment project. She will provide an overview of the Rural TIM project.
 
Jaime Sullivan (Western Transportation Institute): Jaime is a Senior Research Engineer at the Western Transportation Institute (WTI) at Montana State University Bozeman with 21 years of transportation safety experience. She has a portfolio focused on rural advanced transportation technologies, traveler information, public lands, and emerging safety topics such as local road safety, Vision Zero strategies, Safe System Approach, and traffic safety culture. Jaime is a registered engineer in the state of Montana and currently serves as the Director for the National Center for Rural Road Safety, Manager of the Public Lands Transportation Fellows program, and chair of the new Rural Transportation Issues Coordinating Council for TRB.

Megan Patent-Nygren (Nebraska LTAP): Megan Patent-Nygren is the Training Program Coordinator at Nebraska LTAP focusing on roadway safety. She has been with LTAP since 2014. A lifelong-Nebraskan, farmer and livestock producer, the Livestock Emergency Response Program brings together professional and personal interests. Patent-Nygren holds degrees in agricultural education and community and regional planning.

Sheriff Ron Spike (Sheriff of Yates County): Sheriff Spike has been in law enforcement for 50 years and the last 30 years as the elected Sheriff of Yates County New York operating a full service agency with county police, corrections, and 911 dispatchers. He is the Chairman of the NYS Municipal Police Training Council (POST). He is on the Executive Board of the National Sheriffs’ Association, and is a frequent instructor for Sheriffs, and other officials in New York State on contemporary public safety administration topics. He speaks on SMV related issues all around NY State. Yates County has approx. 3,000 old order Mennonites within its population operating horse and buggies, farming, grape growing for wineries and agriculture commerce.