Overview
The Virginia Department of Transportation Safety Service Patrol (SSP) program began in the late 1960s, initially with district maintenance personnel providing assistance to disabled motorists in Northern Virginia during rush hours.
Over the last 50 years, the Safety Service Patrol (SSP) has transformed into its own distinct program.
Today, the program has expanded its patrol areas and has enhanced its duties.
The Safety Service Patrol is an integral part of the overall traffic incident management strategy.
The primary focus of the SSP program is incident management and emergency response.
By reducing duration of incidents, it minimizes traffic congestion at, or near, incident scenes. Such scenes include traffic crashes, debris and disabled vehicles.
One of the duties of the Safety Service Patroller is to provide short-term traffic control and scene management. This promotes the safe movement of people and commerce, and reduces congestion and delays.
SSP units primarily patrol interstate highways and controlled-access primary routes.
The program is committed to providing professional, well-trained and courteous patrollers to the citizens of commonwealth and its visitors.