SAFETY SERVICE PATROL PRIORITIES AND BEST PRACTICES
April 2017

CHAPTER 2. TYPES OF SERVICE PATROL PROGRAMS

Staffing Options for Service Patrols

Staffing costs are in addition to the costs associated with the procurement and maintenance of the fleet vehicles, and the consumables associated with them. There are service patrol staffing options for an agency to consider when implementing a new Safety Service Patrol (SSP) program or modifying their existing program. The staffing approach selected will depend on the number of permanent agency positions that are allocated to the SSP program. In some cases, the staffing, as well as the physical operation and maintenance of the service patrol, may be contracted out. Regardless of which option an agency selects, a dedicated set of agency personnel is still needed to oversee and operate an SSP program in the long-term.

As with any agency program, the decision of how to implement and maintain a program is a multi-faceted one. Ultimately, the approach followed is dependent on many regional and local factors which may differ from system to system: available funding, available contract mechanisms, procurement requirements, similar contracts that are in use, availability of permanent agency positions, current operations and maintenance facilities that could be modified to host the service patrol vehicles, and any statutes or legislation related to the State's liability in providing direct assistance to motorists.

The following sections address various staffing options. Table 2 provides examples of the staffing options implemented by different agencies. Of importance is the frequent presence of private sponsors or partners that are used to defray a number of the operational costs and in some cases may actually operate the patrol.

Agency Operated and Staffed Services

The most common strategy for staffing a patrol is to keep all resources in-house, or agency-owned and operated. Many agencies that employ this approach appreciate the fact that it requires the least amount of external contracting. By keeping the human resources internal to the agency, the program management has an inherently better understanding of the employment specifics for the staff. More importantly, programs staffed with government personnel, especially those with sworn law enforcement-trained personnel, realize its benefit due to the operators having the authority to make certain decisions at incident scenes that are not normally given to contract employees. They can directly request additional agency resources.

An agency-operated patrol affords the agency full control over every aspect of the program including the flexibility to adjust routes, add drivers (both temporary and permanent), adjust hours of operation, and add or remove levels of service as needed without being bound by an external contract. While reducing service hours or patrols is never an initial goal, ownership allows the agency to make those adjustments without the financial burden that sometimes accompanies an external contract.

Agency-operated patrols may be sensitive to budgetary issues and scrutiny, regardless of the SSP operational needs relative to staffing and resources. Reductions in service and staffing may be imposed from legislatures or by required budgetary actions.

Several agencies have developed innovative staffing approaches in order to address the SSP staffing needed at critical times despite budgetary pressures. These approaches typically include the use of other agency employees to bolster the presence of the patrols during peak hours, special events, or major incidents. The following are some examples of innovative staffing approaches.

• The Regional Emergency Action Coordinating Team (REACT) program is a county-based arterial program located in Maricopa County, Arizona. REACT is dispatched to provide arterial traffic management and support to first responders from Fire and Law Enforcement agencies when a major incident occurs. The REACT program responds to incidents 24 hours per day/7 day per week and is staffed by part-time and full-time Maricopa County employees who receive specialized training for their positions. The part-time employees have regular duties within the agency, and when they are needed to respond and support the permanent SSP staff, they stop their regular work activities and respond to the incident scene in REACT Incident Response Vehicles.
• The Maryland State Highway Administration (MdSHA) uses maintenance forces to supplement their current service patrol program. During the morning and evening peak periods, trained individuals from the maintenance shops supplement the existing full-time SSP patrollers as an overtime assignment prior to or after their routine maintenance duties. Each maintenance shop that participates in the supplementary SSP activity has a fully outfitted service patrol vehicle and additional uniforms for the drivers for this purpose.

Contracted Services

Many States have opted to contract their SSP programs to the private sector. Contracted service patrols provide specific services as identified in their contract scope of work for a specific number of years and with requirements for route coverage. Their contracts may also include numbers of staff and vehicles. The contracted services option can be beneficial if implemented correctly and a clear, well-written contract and scope of services has been developed and executed. There should be performance measures in the contract that include monetary incentives for exceeding minimum service requirements. These incentives may include specified maximum response time following reports of an incident, as well as incident clearance time requirements and reduction of secondary crashes. The contract should include penalties for not meeting the required measures over a specific period of time.

Liability and Indemnification of Safety Service Patrol Contractors

When implementing contracts for SSP services, the level of service required of the contractor and the ensuing liability involved is important to consider. The services permitted may differ from region to region depending on laws and regulations in a given State. Some programs will not allow a private SSP contractor to move vehicles from the roadway. Others, such as Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), allow the contractor to remove disabled vehicles or minor incidents from the travel lanes of the roadway, but require the contractor to carry additional insurance for liability to cover any claims. Concern for insurance costs due to liability claims may make contract patrollers hesitant to move vehicles and debris out of the roadway. Allowing for some indemnification of the contractor while performing expected SSP duties has proven to be beneficial in allowing contracted SSPs to clear incidents from travel lanes.

For example, the Florida Road Ranger program, comprised of private contractors operating the patrols has been allowed by the State of Florida some exceptions to liabilities as the private contractors are acting as an agent of the State while moving incidents, disabled vehicles or debris from travel lanes. Florida has passed legislation, Statute 316.061(3), provided in Appendix B, identifying the contracted SSP operator as an "authorized agent of the department." This allows them to remove damaged or disabled vehicles from the roadway without being considered at fault for any additional damage that occurs to the disabled vehicle. With this additional protection in place, the contract service patrol providers are less hesitant to remove obstructions from the travel lanes and they are able to operate as an agency-operated patrol would.

Business Model Examples

There are various business model examples of agencies contracting SSP functions to service providers. One such model is a competitive procurement of SSP services in which the selected service provider is required to provide patrollers that meet minimum qualifications and training, along with the service vehicles, equipment and facilities, if necessary, that meet the required specifications in the contract. States such as Florida and Virginia follow this business model.

A second business model is an agency contract with conventional towing services, already equipped with trucks, to patrol routes and provide services. An example of this model is the Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) program in Monterey County, California operated by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) in coordination with Caltrans and Monterey County. In this arrangement, CHP's primary role is to oversee the training and operation of the contract towing services which includes conducting background checks of prospective SSP operators, providing initial and refresher training, performing random and planned tow inspections, conducting ride-alongs, evaluating the patrollers, and investigating complaints. The CHP is also responsible for dispatching the contracted FSP trucks from the CHP Monterey Communications Center (MCC). Caltrans' primary responsibility is the allocation of State funding, invoicing, and monitoring the freeways to ensure the patrols are deployed in an efficient manner. Caltrans also conducts special studies in support of the patrol program. The Traffic Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) does the actual contracting with the towing companies as well as other contractors and consultants who support the program. TAMC generates matching funds, prepares the annual budgets, and coordinates any expansions or changes with the other partner agencies.

A more unique business model involves contracting SSP services to a non-profit organization. The West Virginia Department of Highways contracts its SSP to a non-profit organization in West Virginia. The non-profit employs and educates former welfare recipients as courtesy patrol drivers which further benefits the State by reducing the number of individuals on welfare.

Advantages of Contracted Safety Service Patrol Services

Contracted services allow an agency without prior SSP experience to take advantage of the expertise and lessons learned from experienced firms who have successfully operated similar services. Contracted service patrols put the burden of staffing the patrol operators on the contracted service provider minimizing the agency staffing requirements to implement the SSP. If standards and performance are not being met by contracted services and the performance criteria is documented in the contract, the contract can be canceled and services re-procured with a new contractor. When SSP contracts are re-procured, the transition to a new contractor must be properly managed in order to avoid service disruption and reduction in service quality. Well-written SSP contracts will take into consideration transition periods both at the start and end of the contract term.

By contracting the SSP, an agency can accurately budget the costs for a prescribed period of time. Changes to the parameters of the contract, including change orders involving expansion of services, may result in fluctuations in the agency's cost. Having a known multi-year outlook for SSP costs means that program and budget reviews can occur less frequently, as opposed to annual reviews common for agency-operated patrols.

Hybrid Safety Service Patrol Programs

Most agencies with SSP have implemented either agency-operated or contracted patrol services. However, some agencies have used a combination of these strategies. Hybrid service patrol programs combine agency-operated services with contractor-operated services and are often funded, in part, through sponsorship and advertising. The hybrid programs provide an increased level of service and augment current staffing levels without increasing the agency's operating budget. This is an option for agencies that do not have the funding available to fund their entire program or proposed expansion of current services. An example of this type of arrangement is an agency that wants to increase their service patrol coverage while a sponsorship opportunity is used to augment the existing staff. Another hybrid strategy employed by some agencies includes local law enforcement staff for SSP operations.

Maryland's Coordinated Highways Action Response Team (CHART) Program is an example of a hybrid program using two sponsorship patrols to augment the CHART Program patrols that are 99% State employee operated. This was done to enable an expansion to the network that was needed, but for which State funding was not available. In Maryland's case, if the sponsor was offering funding, the money would be directed to the State's treasury department and possibly never seen by the Maryland CHART Program to offset the cost. As a way to gain the added support of the sponsorship, the contract was prepared so the sponsor would offer "in kind" services in the form of patrol staff and vehicles that would come under the supervision of the CHART Program. These sponsored patrols are limited in the services they can provide, but they are able to augment and compliment the agency patrols by assisting disabled motorists and being an extra set of eyes and ears on the roadway network.

Level of Service

The United States Department of Transportation's (USDOT) benefit data for Mobilization and Response activities[9] provides consistency in the types of benefits for service patrols, including measurable reductions in incident duration, secondary crashes, and congestion along with corresponding improvements in emissions and fuel consumption. These benefits, which impact safety and mobility, encapsulate the goals of SSPs, regardless of their size or complexity.

As SSP teams throughout the country work to detect, respond to, and assist in the clearance of various types of incidents, the overall goal of restoring traffic capacity as safely and quickly as possible remains common among all programs. Coordinated and systematic approaches to addressing Traffic Incident Management (TIM) challenges have been the necessary ingredients for SSP programs to remain successful in the communities they serve.

Service patrol areas range from relatively short roadway segments to major highway networks within a defined geographic area. Service capabilities can range from a handful of patrol vehicles to a fleet of more than 150 vehicles in Los Angeles. The original Illinois Department of Transportation "Minutemen" Emergency Traffic Patrol in the Chicago area was the prototype for the modern SSP. It was first implemented in 1961 and now boasts 70 vehicles ranging from medium-duty tow vehicles to heavy duty vehicles which can remove large trucks with boom cranes.

Patrolling periods for various programs include rush-hour coverage to 24 hours per day/7 days per week service for Illinois Department of Transportation's Chicago area services, Florida's Turnpike, and Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT) Road Rangers within major metropolitan areas.

Service patrol types have been grouped and named in several ways. For this document, the following terms are used:

• Baseline Service Patrol.
• Mid-Level Service Patrol.
• Full-Function Service Patrol.

These three types of service patrols are distinguished by function and level of service. However, the differences between the types are not always clear. Each jurisdiction funds, staffs and equips their service patrols to the level that is justified based on their available funding and operational needs, such as time of day and route coverage.

There are some service patrols that provide non-typical services. The aforementioned Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Service Patrol Handbook gives examples of unique services that a jurisdiction may choose to provide. Often the unique service requires specialized training which could require additional staff and budget resources. Examples of "non-typical" services include:

• Defibrillators – The Freeway Incident Management Safety Team (FIRST) in Minnesota outfits its vehicles with defibrillators. Using this equipment enhances the operators' first-aid service provided as part of their program. Patrollers need specialized training to use the defibrillators.
• First aid – Most jurisdictions require first-aid training at the awareness level, although others require it to be at the first responder level.
• Quick clearance with flatbed tow vehicles in toll express lanes – FDOT in the Miami-Dade area uses flat-bed "roll on" tow vehicles for their service patrols that operate in the I-95 toll Express Lanes. Because of the financial implications for this facility, it is considered especially important that incidents are cleared quickly. Non-drivable vehicles are immediately placed on the tow trucks and moved to a "holding area."
• Hazardous materials, fires, and blood-borne pathogens – Georgia's Highway Emergency Response Operators (HERO) program trains personnel to carry equipment to handle hazardous materials (HAZMAT), fires, and blood-borne pathogens. Some of the HERO units also have diesel off-load pumps with storage tanks in the vehicle to pump fuel from leaking tanks.
• Fire eradication – Personnel in the Tennessee and Washington State highway incident management programs are trained in fire eradication techniques.

While there are a wide variety of SSP programs and services, it is important for an agency to select the type of program that delivers the level of service needed within their budget and their legal and political environment constraints. Agencies may want to include or eliminate a particular service due to their needs. This is reasonable as long as the implications and costs of including or eliminating that service are understood.

Baseline Service Patrol

Baseline (or Motorist Assistance) Service patrols generally focus on assisting stranded motorists. Many current SSP programs were initiated as Motorist Assistance or Courtesy Service patrols. Some of these programs have evolved to provide higher levels of service. Some motorist assistance service patrols are privately operated and sponsored by private companies. One example of this type of arrangement can be found in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) provides emergency roadside assistance for motorists whose vehicles break down on their roadways. Their program is known as the Highway Assistance Patrol (HAP) and is sponsored by an Insurance Company. These patrols operate in metropolitan areas of Massachusetts during the morning and evening peak hours and offer services such as changing flat tires, fixing minor mechanical issues, removing debris from the roadway, and supplying small amounts of fuel. They also call for emergency medical services, if necessary.

Table 3 provides examples of programs providing baseline service patrol components as described in the FHWA Service Patrol Handbook. These types of service patrols operate during peak traffic hours five days a week and provide typical services that many programs offer today. Baseline service patrol vehicles are designed to push a stalled or abandoned automobile or light truck out of the highway travel lane.

The Los Angeles Metro FSP is an example of a Baseline Service Patrol introduced by the Los Angeles County Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE) in 1991. It is managed in partnership with Metro, California Highway Patrol, and Caltrans on all major freeways in Los Angeles County. Today, the program is the largest of its kind in the nation, performing approximately 25,000 assists to stranded motorists each month. The program uses roving tow and service trucks to reduce traffic congestion by getting disabled vehicles running again or by moving them off the freeway.

Table 3. Program Examples with Baseline Service Patrol Components.

Services	Dallas	North Texas Tollway Authority	Nevada Department of Transportation
Peak hours, 5 days per week.
Provide limited emergency temporary traffic control at incident scenes.
Remove vehicles from travel lane.
Respond to stranded motorist within one hour.
Communicate with Traffic Management Center.
Supervisor participates in incident debriefs.
Dispatched by traffic management center or law enforcement.
Provide minor repairs, refer additional services to tow company.
Remove debris.
Provide fuel.
Traffic control equipment onboard.
Communication equipment installed.
Basic tools on board.
Collect customer feedback.

The Houston TranStar Motorist Aid Patrol (MAP) program is comprised of a partnership of four government agencies (Texas Department of Transportation, Harris County, City of Houston, and Houston Metro) that are responsible for providing Transportation Management and Emergency Management services to the Greater Houston Region. MAP is designed to help stranded motorists, but also to clear the freeways of minor incidents and stalls. One unique aspect of MAP is that it is staffed by sworn law enforcement officers who operate the service patrol vehicles. The services include the following:

• Change flat tires.
• Jump-start cars.
• Refill radiators and tape leaky hoses.
• Provide up to a gallon of fuel.
• Tow disabled vehicles to designated safe locations off the freeway.

Mid-Level Service Patrol

Mid-level service patrols provide incident response service, clearance resources, and free motorist assistance on a peak hour basis, a minimum of five days a week. These service patrols may also be available for emergency call out 24 hours per day/7 days per week and for planned special event coverage. The mid-level service patrols operate patrol vehicles capable of relocating stalled or crashed vehicles from the travel portion of the roadway to a safe location. Examples of programs with mid-level service patrol components as described in the FHWA Service Patrol Handbook are provided in Table 4.

Table 4. Program Examples with Mid-Level Service Patrol Components.

Services	Iowa	Springfield, MO	Wisconsin (Dane & Milwaukee Counties)	Florida Road Ranger
Peak Hours, 5 days per week and on-call 24 hours per day/7 days per week.
Provide full emergency temporary traffic control at incident scenes.
Trained in Incident Command System (ICS) courses ICS-100 and ICS-200.
Designed to push vehicles from travel lane, use a wrecker/flat-bed or towing contractor.
Respond to stranded motorist within 30 minutes.
In contact with traffic management center and law enforcement.
Participate in incident debriefs.
Dispatched by traffic management center or law enforcement.
Provide minor repairs and motorist assistance including fuel, tire inflation (air compressors).
Remove debris.
Provide first-aid.
Assist at vehicle crash scenes.
Traffic control equipment onboard.
Communication equipment installed.
Basic tools on board.
Collect customer feedback.

Full-Function Service Patrol

Full-function service patrols provide the same basic services as the mid-level service patrols, but they operate 24 hours per day/7 days per week. The patrollers that operate at this level have the highest level of SSP training. National Incident Management training is required for the four programs described in Table 5. The full function service patrol vehicles are designed and equipped to relocate a stalled or abandoned automobile or light truck from a highway to a safe location. These service patrols provide a frequency of coverage to support statewide incident clearance goals. The goals for this level of service patrol deployment include reducing traffic congestion, improving travel time reliability, and improving safety on freeway and arterial systems. Examples of programs with full function service patrol components as described in the FHWA Service Patrol Handbook are provided in Table 5.