RESPONDING TO TRAFFIC INCIDENTS...

Throughout the tour of duty, a Law Enforcement Officer can and most likely will run into a wide variety of calls for service. One of the most common calls for service that Law Enforcement Officers respond to are traffic incidents, that means traffic accidents, traffic complaints, and traffic hazards. Majority of the time these type of calls for service don’t require too much involvement to resolve, however LEOs have to be present nonetheless to make sure any situation is resolved.

There are two types of traffic accidents when it comes to Law enforcement, Reportable and Non-Reportable. The Department of Transportation and the Department of Motor Vehicles have mandated specific situations where a formal report of a traffic accident is required. A report is required under the following situations when working a traffic accident; all Hit & Run accidents, if the property damage to the vehicles involved exceeds a certain amount ($1500), if injury occurs to anyone involved with the accident, if property damage to any property belonging to the Department of Transportation occurs, and if the subjects involved request that a report be generated. Even if the accident doesn’t meet the reporting requirement if a citizen involved in the accident request a report be generated it should be done and noted why it is being generated.

Non-Reportable traffic accidents are a lot simpler, a report is not required under the following circumstances; if the accident occurred on private property, if the damage present on both vehicles don’t meet the $1500 minimum requirement, if only one vehicle is present at the scene. Non-Reportable traffic accident normally are handled with LEOs present on scene to make sure all parties involved are provided with insurance information pertaining to filing their claims with insurance.

Moving on, traffic complaints can range widely, but majority of the calls for service that come out for this can be surrounding a specific problem that is on-going concerning traffic. This can be someone reporting that cars are speeding through their neighborhood, that people in the community aren’t parking on the streets facing the correct direction, or a vehicle that is blocking someone from leaving their residences. It can vary widely, but these calls don’t normally require a formal report, just notes attached to the call stating what the resolution was concerning the incident.

Traffic hazards are normally reported by citizens that observe things that aren’t right while they are driving concerning the road. This is restricted to hazards or aspects that may lead the citizens to believe that if left alone will cause an accident or get someone hurt. A lot of traffic hazards are things dropped in the roadway by vehicles in transport, or animals observed in the roadway. it is simply remedied by removing whatever is in the roadway and making sure all lanes of travel are free to travel without incident.

This is a quick overview of several traffic incidents LEOs respond to on the daily basis, obviously each state and agencies have their way of doing things, but this can serve a general overview how things get taken care of on the roadway.

Responding to Traffic Incidents…