CHP Approves Online TIM Training

By Randall C. Resch Great news for California tow companies and tow operators who respond to CHP calls. I recently confirmed with California Highway Patrol-Sacramento that rotation towers and tow companies may accomplish Traffic Incident Management training requirements by taking the four-hour TIM course online or by taking instruction classes in your area. CHP will accept an official Certificate of Completion and formal registration with the Federal Highway Administration as evidence that you've completed live or online training. Rotation tow companies are required to have all responding CHP-approved towers TIM-trained by July 1. This is done by obtaining a TIM certificate and attaching it to the tow driver's application before the upcoming open enrollment deadlines. California tow owners and tow operators can go to the FHWA website at www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/training/course and participate in online training for TIM. This is a huge advantage to all towers; and there's no excuse for companies to not ensure towers are TIM-trained. Drivers, you can do this from your own home and on your own time. Don't wait for your bosses to have to order you to complete training. I recommend you take the training at home so as not to be distracted by work influences, bosses or dispatchers trying to get you to run calls. The training is not difficult; but it does require you to pay attention. Owners, this takes only some of the pressure off you in finding an available live class—the deadline of July 1 still exists. I urge you to take advantage of the available online training to meet this year's requirements. Don't wait until the last minute: give your drivers a deadline to get their certificate back to you. CHP recognizes that it's hard to get enough local live courses to meet the needs of CHP towers. I salute CHP for approving online training as a means to at least get our rotation towers trained and on the same page as other first responders. While the online course may not have the same delivery as a live-training course, its life-saving message is still the same. CHP now makes it easy for everyone to be TIM-trained and there's still enough time to get your entire cadre of drivers trained. Randall Resch is American Towman's and Tow Industry Week's Operations Editor, a former California police officer, tow business owner and retired civilian off-road instructor for Navy Special Warfare. Randall is an approved instructor for towers serving the California Highway Patrol's rotation contract. His course is approved by the California law enforcement community. He has written over 500 industry-related articles for print and on-line. Randall was inducted into the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame in 2014.