For a Hardworking Few, Traffic Jams Are Just Another Day on the Job
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A group of people whose job it is to ease the frustrations of area drivers were gathering today at Citizens Bank Park to talk about ways to improve safety and response times on the Delaware Valley's highways.
This "Traffic Incident Management Conference" was being put on by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Executive director Barry Seymour says it brings together emergency responders, engineers, and technology- and policy-makers, all putting their heads together toward one goal:
"The faster that we get the incidents off the road and the safer we can do that, it reduces traffic and also the risk of further accidents."
Joe Haines, of Haines Towing, in Bordentown, NJ, had a device that, in lots of incidents, can help. Combine a crane with a tow truck and you've got his 80-ton-plus "rotator" (photo below) -- a half-million-dollar machine that's actually quite svelte by today's wreck removal standards.
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"You don't have to block as many lanes, being able to reach off the side with the boom that rotates 360 degrees," Haines explains. "It speeds the incident by not having to reposition the truck two or three times to do one job. You can pick [the wreckage] up from one side and rotate it and put it on a trailer."
