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MDOT and Otsego County First Responders Team Up For New Trailer, Increase Safety On Roads

Otsego County is doing more to keep first responders safe at the scene of accidents.

“We work together, and we all have a common goal to not only keep the first responders safe, but also the motoring public,” said MDOT Traffic & Safety Engineer Jason Bodell.

MDOT and Otsego County first responders, increasing safety on the roads

Together they created this “Traffic Incident Management Trailer.”

“This is something we are really proud of, we’re really hoping that it helps improve our safety and the motoring public’s safety as well,” added Bodell.  

Equipped with safety vests, road signs, and even barricades, this trailer allows first responders to do their job more efficiently but even more important, safely.

“It’s all about scene safety and we had a tragic situation happen in Kalamazoo County last night. We got bigger vehicles out there to protect us, it’s all about our staff going home in the morning when they’re off duty,” Otsego County EMS Chief Jon Deming

While improving safety, the trailer will also improve how fast responders can manage a roadway.

“Definitely helps improve our response time, and also communication and coordination during traffic incidents,” said Bodell.

The county will use the new tool in many ways.

“This could be for any incident out on M-32, and I-75 where there’s a large crash, we need to shut down the road immediately, get barricades up and start diverting traffic,” explained Otsego County Undersheriff Matt Muladore

Addressing a major need in the community.

“We saw the need because we have I-75, we have major closures there during the winters, and we lack good signage for the public to reroute them and detour them,” says Deming.  

A group effort coming together to potentially save lives.

“I’m really proud you know this is something that we’ve worked on, collectively as a group, and it’s definitely something that helps all of us out,” said Bodell. 

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