LEBANON, Ohio — First responders from across southwest Ohio gathered Thursday at the Warren County Fairgrounds for the Ohio Department of Transportation's first Safer Incident Management Day, an event focused on improving coordination during roadway emergencies and reducing the time motorists spend stuck in traffic after crashes.
According to ODOT, first responders across District 8 have responded to more than 142,000 roadway incidents since 2023. The district includes Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont, Clinton and Fayette counties.
WATCH: How first responders are working to clear crashes faster in Ohio
Officials said the training brought together law enforcement, fire departments, emergency medical services and transportation personnel to strengthen relationships and improve response efforts before the next major crash occurs.
"Every three minutes that you're out there crashing our chances of a secondary crash goes up 1%," said Capt. Robert Hayslip, Wilmington District commander with the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
ODOT Director Pamela Boratyn said the goal of the event was to ensure agencies understand each other's roles and resources before arriving at an emergency scene.
"The goal is to have all these people come to know each other, not be right there on that scene having to make split decisions and not know," Boratyn said. "Being able to say we know these are the resources we have. This is what we need to do. Here's our plan to put in action and we get things taken care of."
Officials said the training focused on balancing quick roadway clearance with thorough crash investigations and emergency response.
"Certain things we have to do, and we want family members to be able to look at a crash and say, 'Hey, this was done in a complete manner,'" Hayslip said.
ODOT said District 8 currently has the lowest average incident clearance time in Ohio at 53 minutes. Officials hope continued training and new technology will help reduce those times even further.
"So we're being more efficient, and I expect you will see those times go down as we progress in technology," Hayslip said.
As Warren County and surrounding communities continue to grow, ODOT officials said more development and traffic can lead to more roadway incidents.
"We have more access points to the housing development, so with more people, obviously more cars on the roadway, and that typically lends to possibly more incidents or crashes," said Kathleen Fuller, ODOT public information officer.
Fuller said the agency's goal is to ensure emergency responders can quickly and effectively respond to incidents as traffic volumes increase.
"Make sure that we have an emergency response locked in and being able to respond and provide those to any incident very quickly," Fuller said.
ODOT officials said they hope events like Safer Incident Management Day will continue to strengthen partnerships among responding agencies, improve roadway safety and reduce delays for drivers across southwest Ohio.
