Westerville Rapid Response
Traffic Response Team
The TRT
The Traffic Response Team (TRT) is WRR’s specialized division dedicated to managing roadway movement, maintaining scene visibility, and ensuring overall traffic safety during emergency situations. TRT is built around the principle that most roadway dangers come not only from the emergency itself, but from the unpredictable flow of vehicles approaching it. Because of that, the division serves as the safeguard that prevents emergencies from escalating into larger incidents. TRT is structured, trained, and deployed with the single purpose of creating safe, controlled, and predictable traffic environments during any WRR operation.
TRT responders are selected for their ability to remain calm in fast-moving roadway conditions and for their understanding of how drivers behave around emergency scenes. They undergo training in lane management, hazard approach, and scene visibility techniques, preparing them to create orderly traffic patterns even in chaotic environments. Their presence is essential in ensuring that ERT, SRD, and COMD can work without interference from oncoming vehicles.
This division is equipped with high-visibility lighting, cones, flares, markers, and roadway guidance tools that allow them to craft temporary traffic structures. TRT members are skilled in placing their vehicles strategically to shield responders, mark hazards, and guide drivers into safer routes. By shaping the flow of traffic, they reduce the chances of secondary crashes—one of the most common dangers at emergency scenes.
TRT plays a major role in WRR’s overall operation. While ERT handles emergencies, SRD stabilizes dangerous conditions, and COMD coordinates the scene, TRT ensures the environment around the incident stays safe for everyone involved. Their work limits confusion, prevents sudden braking, and ensures that drivers approaching the scene understand where to go and how to move. This makes TRT not just a support unit but a foundational safety division that protects both the public and responders.
As a core branch of WRR, TRT stands as the line between order and chaos on the roadway. Through visibility, structure, and disciplined traffic control, the Traffic Response Team keeps every emergency scene safe, stable, and manageable. TRT ensures that no matter how severe the incident is, the flow of the roadway remains controlled and the entire operation can be carried out with maximum safety and efficiency.
What TRT Does
The Traffic Response Team (TRT) is responsible for controlling, directing, and stabilizing traffic during emergency situations. When dispatch receives a call involving blocked lanes, slowed traffic due to a breakdown, a vehicle stopped in a high-risk area, or an accident causing congestion, TRT is immediately sent to restore safe traffic flow. Dispatch provides lane information, hazard details, and the exact location before the unit responds. Once dispatched, TRT drives toward the scene using proper emergency roadway tactics and high-visibility lighting to ensure a safe approach.
On arrival, TRT’s first job is to take pressure off the incident by creating a controlled traffic environment. Responders position their vehicle at strategic angles, activate amber/white strobes, and begin directing approaching drivers around the hazard. TRT may establish temporary lane closures, merges, slow-down zones, or full diversions depending on the severity of the situation. Their priority is reducing risk, preventing sudden stops, and stopping secondary crashes before they happen.
TRT works alongside ERT, SRD, and COMD by giving them the safe space they need to operate. By controlling flow, TRT ensures responders, drivers, and bystanders remain protected. Cones, flares, arrow indicators, and high-visibility markers may be used to build temporary traffic patterns that keep vehicles moving safely around the incident.
If TRT is dispatched to an accident not by request of the involved parties but through a witness, monitoring report, or WRR dispatch call, the team approaches professionally. TRT will check the conditions, ensure the occupants are safe, and simply ask if assistance or traffic management support is needed. If help is declined, TRT will still handle the surrounding traffic environment so the scene does not become more dangerous for other drivers.
Throughout every call, TRT focuses on control, communication, and maintaining roadway stability. Their presence keeps roads flowing, prevents pile-ups, and allows emergency responders to work freely and safely. Whether they are assisting directly or managing traffic from a distance, TRT is essential for keeping the roadway safe during any emergency response.