Emergency Vehicle Priority

Survivability in life-threatening situations is directly linked to the response time of emergency services. In the specific case of cardiac arrest, traffic delays of as little as three minutes can halve the chances of a patient’s survivability. Despite legislation allowing emergency vehicles to progress through red traffic signals, safety procedures, waiting queues of vehicles, and peak hour congestion slow the progression of these vehicles through the intersections as they must ensure cross-traffic has stopped to allow them to safely proceed. Transmax’s award-winning EVP technology enables emergency vehicles to safely reach their destination up to 26% faster. Every second counts in an emergency, and STREAMS EVP is helping save lives.

How STREAMS EVP works

 A growing and ageing population has seen increased demand for emergency services. Coupled with increasing traffic congestion, the need arose to employ smart technologies to maintain and improve travel times for emergency services while keeping other road users safe, in addition to minimising traffic disruptions. STREAMS EVP safely delivers green traffic signals to emergency vehicles to allow their unimpeded passage through controlled intersections.

It uses computer-aided dispatch, GPS, and traffic management technology to determine the location of an emergency vehicle, calculate estimated times of arrival at intersections, and send a message to the traffic control system that an emergency vehicle is approaching. The traffic control system prepares to provide a green signal in advance of the arrival of the vehicle at the required intersection when it is safe to do so. This preparation includes keeping pedestrians and all other road users safe. In addition, when an emergency vehicle changes course, EVP adjusts itself accordingly to clear the way for the new route. EVP is designed to minimise disruption to traffic and seeks the return to normal traffic conditions quickly and safely after the emergency vehicle has passed.

Who benefits from STREAMS EVP?

Emergency Services

 Crossing red traffic signals on busy intersections while responding to an emergency is the most dangerous scenario emergency services personnel face on a daily basis. Prior to reaching the intersection, the emergency crew may have already dealt with the unpredictable reactions of drivers who are queued at the red traffic signal and have attempted to move out of their way, or the emergency crew may have even had to travel on the wrong side of the road to pass traffic queued back from the intersection. Once they reach the red signal and attempt to cross the intersection, they may have to navigate past pedestrians crossing the road on a green walk signal, drivers who are travelling through a green signal and unaware an emergency services vehicle is trying to cross the intersection, and the unpredictable behaviour of drivers trying to avoid the emergency services vehicle. These scenarios place emergency services personnel and the community at an increased risk of accidental injury or death.

By safely providing green traffic signals to emergency services vehicles to allow unimpeded passage through controlled intersections, STREAMS EVP provides a safer and less stressful work environment for frontline emergency response personnel by reducing the number of times an emergency vehicle needs to cross intersections against the lights, thereby reducing the likelihood of accidents during emergency responses.

The community

Imagine you or a loved one desperately awaiting the arrival of emergency services for an emergency and their arrival is delayed by heavy traffic. When every second counts in an emergency, seconds can literally be the difference between life and death for the victim of a violent crime, serious accident, or a life-threatening medical emergency. STREAMS EVP is enabling emergency service personnel to reach emergencies and transport patients to hospital up to 30% faster.

STREAMS EVP is not only helping save the lives of those requiring emergency assistance by assisting emergency vehicles to progress to emergencies more quickly and efficiently, it is also keeping other road users such as drivers and pedestrians safe.

Road authorities

 STREAMS EVP has been designed to deliver a smart solution that does not require a change to front-line officer business procedures, nor add additional complexity. The solution leverages existing technology and does not require specialist hardware be installed on the roadside, nor in the emergency services vehicle. Existing technology installed in the emergency services vehicle for communications/case information is utilised to provide the necessary vehicle tracking information, and the standard traffic signal control features of STREAMS Urban Traffic Control (UTC) are used to modify the operations of the traffic signals.

STREAMS EVP provides road authorities with an intelligent, network-based system that automatically manages traffic before and after the emergency response vehicle passes. The system features dynamic interventions for minimal traffic impact, pedestrian clearance protection, live monitoring at traffic management centres, and user-configurable recovery algorithms.

Emergency Services

• Reduces travel time by providing priority for emergency vehicles through intersections
• Reduces the number of times an emergency vehicle needs to cross intersections against the lights
• Improves incident clearance rates
• Helps emergency response personnel meet response targets
• Assists emergency vehicles to more efficiently manage increasing traffic demands
• Assists in safely and effectively responding to and attending emergency incidents
• Reduces noise pollution as EVP allows emergency vehicles to operate in lights-only mode more frequently
• Provides a safer work environment for front-line emergency response personnel
• Reduces the likelihood of accidents during emergency responses.

Road Authorities

• Reduces the need to increase the number of front-line officers or emergency vehicles to maintain service levels
• Improves resource efficiency
• Does not require a change to front-line officer business procedures in order to use the system
• Minimises installation and maintenance costs by using existing infrastructure
• Minimises impact on other road traffic
• Allows a policy-based approach to giving priority to special classes of road users (like emergency vehicles).

The community

• Contributes to the saving of lives through assisting emergency vehicles to progress to incidents more quickly and efficiently
• Improves the safety of other road users such as drivers and pedestrians
• EVP can be adapted for other uses in the future such as buses, heavy vehicles and VIP priority vehicles
• Promotes inter-agency collaboration.