PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — This week (November 13-17) is Crash Responder Safety Week.
The Green Bay Police Department is giving some general reminders to all drivers.
“Make sure that you’re moving over when you come across stopped emergency vehicles; weather its police, fire, tow trucks, or maintenance vehicles on the side of the road,” said Patrol Sergeant Sean Hamill. “If there’s two lanes, move over to the lane opposite so you can safely pass, if you’re not able to move over due to another vehicle, slow down to a safe speed while you pass so we can keep our officers safe.”
Additionally, the Green Bay Police Department (GBPD) is educating drivers about a traffic control tactic that officers are being trained in to use to address traffic hazards, especially during times of high traffic volume.
This tactic is called a traffic break.
A traffic break creates a safe zone that allows officers to safely resolve traffic hazards including debris in the roadway, traffic crashes, and disabled vehicles.
This is accomplished by the officer matching the speed of traffic, activating their emergency lights, and then weaving back and forth across all lanes of traffic. This allows the officer to gradually slow or stop traffic, allowing either themselves or another officer ahead to safely resolve the traffic hazard.
“We’ve started over the last month to month-and-a-half on training our officers in it, and we’ve seen a lot of good use with it,” said Hamill.
The police department says if you see a traffic break taking place, slow down and do not pass the officer.
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