Post by Rick (Admin) on Mar 12, 2013 22:36:05 GMT -5
Does Timmins Police and Fire Department have this ?
Vehicles outfitted to control traffic lights
NORTH BAY - North Bay Fire and Emergency Services' ability to control traffic lights is only going to get better.
And now city police will also get the green light.
The North Bay Police Service will outfit its emergency vehicles with GPS Pre-Emption technology as it replaces its fleet over the next couple years, while the fire department will upgrades its system.
“This technology will trigger traffic lights to turn green for approaching emergency vehicles but only when their emergency lights are activated,” said Ted Whittle, community safety officer with the North Bay Police Service, adding the light change to green is completed in a manner that does not interrupt the flow of traffic or pose a problem for pedestrians.
“We have one car done and as the new cars come in they will be equipped with the system.”
Whittle said police will start using the system this summer, once officers are trained, and he predicts it may take a couple years to outfit all the service's vehicles.
The fire department has been using traffic interruption technology for more than 20 years, said Deputy Fire Chief Brian Hunt. The enhanced GPS Pre-Emption system will allow the traffic lights to pick up the signal from oncoming emergency vehicle quicker and from different approaches.
“It will allow us to enhance our response times,” Hunt said.
The upgraded technology will replace the former line of sight interruption system which gave emergency vehicles expedited passage through the city's major intersections via a signal from the vehicle as it approached.
“The GPS system is more enhanced,” Hunt said.
Forty-eight of the 52 controlled intersections are equipped with the system. The four exceptions are pedestrian crosswalks located at Fisher and Princess streets, Algonquin and McIntyre streets, Oak and Fraser streets and the pedestrian crosswalk on Memorial Drive near the marina. Lights regulated by the Ministry of Transportation are not equipped with the new technology.
“On the ministry's lights we will still have the older line of sight systems,” Hunt said.
Whittle said the fire department will have priority over police cars.
“The only time the system won't work for us is when the fire department is coming from the other direction.”
www.nugget.ca/2013/03/12/police-board-vehicles-outfitted-to-control-traffic-lights