Editor’s Note
After reading news stories and viewing unforgettable images of the destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy in New York, New Jersey and along the east coast this past fall, we at Safe Highway Matters began to focus on those stories covering the recovery efforts. Countless stories focused on the long hours worked by firefighters and police officers and other first responders, but we wanted to know exactly how Safety Service Patrols were responding.
We began to wonder how SSPs prepared for this type of storm and how they responded after the storm. We challenged Sarah Stanley, an experienced writer who previously worked with the Florida Department of Transportation, with the task of learning more about state departments of transportation’s contingency plans for SSPs in the event of a natural disaster. Through interviews with New Jersey DOT’s Dennis Motiani, Louisiana DOTD’s Stephen Glascock, North Carolina DOT’s Meredith McDiarmid, Florida DOT’s Patrick Odom and Terry Hensley, and the I-95 Corridor Coalition’s Tom Martin, we learned more about the existing contingency plans states have in place to address natural disasters. In addition, Jack Sullivan of the Emergency Responder Safety Institute, Sergeant Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol, Lieutenant Colonel G.L. Bell from North Carolina State Highway Patrol and Lieutenant Frank Manghisi of the New Jersey State Police shared their experiences working alongside Safety Service Patrol drivers. We would like to thank these professionals for their services every day, especially during natural disasters and for contributing to our newsletter.
Another big “thank you” to Mr. Lynn R. Self, Program Manager for the Tarrant County Courtesy Patrol in Texas, for his participation in this quarter’s profile. We found the Tarrant County Courtesy Patrol particularly interesting as it is the first patrol we’ve profiled that the Sheriff’s Department manages and also whose coverage area so closely aligns with that of another patrol. The efforts the patrol has made to ensure safety not only on its roadways, but for its drivers too, serves as an example for other patrols too.
As always, don’t forget to stay updated on Safety Service Patrols throughout the quarter on our Twitter and Facebook pages. And for those of you with follow-up questions from our last quarter’s feature article on benefit-cost analysis, we are working on getting answers for you as well as an update on the benefit-cost tool software developed by the University of Maryland.
Thank you to all who contributed to this issue. If there is a topic that you would like to see us explore in a future issue, please do not hesitate to reach out to us directly. We look forward to hearing more from you.
Wishing you safe travels,
Rita Gallagher
Editor in Chief