Florida Highway Patrol Expands Video Chat Program for Minor Crashes

By Natalia Jaramillo

Source Orlando Sentinel

Drivers involved in minor crashes on some Central Florida highways can now video chat with a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, resolving their collision issues faster than if they waited for police to show up at the scene.

The Desk Trooper Program allows drivers to work remotely with an FHP trooper if they get into a minor crash on Central Florida Expressway Authority’s 125 miles of tolled roads. That includes state roads 408 and 417.

The pilot program, which began in October, is the first of its kind in the nation, according to CFX and FHP.

The program is a partnership between the two agencies and an effort to clear crash investigations more quickly in a region with clogged roads, a ballooning population and often-long wait times after minor accidents.

“With a high call volume and with a limited number of troopers, those two combined resulted in high response times,” said Major Connor Cardwell, FHP communications commander in a podcast interview with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, explaining the impetus for the new program. “Unfortunately some individuals have waited an hour or more.”

FHP prioritizes where to send troopers based on the severity of the crash, so minor ones are last in line for the 1,982 sworn officers who police over 43.2 million highway roads statewide.

Since it began, the desk trooper program has been used in 41% of all minor crashes on CFX roads.

The program has been funded by CFX and FHP, but the two agencies hope the Florida Legislature will provide money to expand it statewide in coming years.

This month, FHP made the program available in a dozen other counties from the Panhandle to South Florida, among them Brevard and Marion, FHP Lieutenant Colonel Mark Brown said at last week’s CFX meeting.

“We believe the program works and has a value to the state,” Brown said. “Our goal is to make this a mainstream option in the future for investigating minor traffic crashes across the state.”

So far this year FHP has responded to more than 43,000 crashes statewide, most of them minor, data from the Florida Department of Transportation shows.

In Central Florida, there have been slightly more than 18,000 crashes from January to June, data from FHP shows. Most of those crashes — more than 10,700 — were in Orange County while there were roughly 2,000 in each of Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties so far this year.

“We’ve certainly had a challenge in Orange County with timing of response so this is a very welcome addition,” said Christine Moore, an Orange County commissioner who also sits on the CFX board.

To use the program, drivers can dial *347 (*FHP) to connect to a dispatcher who assesses if the crash is minor and eligible for a desk trooper.

FHP defines minor crashes as those that do not involve injuries, require towing, block lanes or suggest criminal violations. Commercial motor vehicles are not eligible, and both parties involved in the collision must agree to use the program.

If a crash is eligible, the dispatcher texts a link to the driver that allows them to chat with an FHP trooper, who could be located anywhere in the state. Troopers review the crash scene via camera, interview witnesses and complete a crash report virtually. Drivers do not need to install an app on their phones to take part.

Most people who have used the program respond positively on FHP surveys, Brown said.

On Facebook, one user wrote on a CFX post about the program that he wished he’d used it.

“I should have called you guys when a woman in the left lane of US 92 in Plant City swerved into my lane (right hand) and ran me off the curb and still sideswiped my van,” the user wrote. Instead, the driver called the police “and waited over an hour and half.”

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