By Journal Staff
Twenty-seven Queensland Fire and Rescue Services and Queensland Ambulance Services vehicles from nine stations are now fitted with the technology to activate green lights in an emergency, allowing the vehicle to move safely through the junction without having to weave through heavy traffic.
The process starts at the station. Crews push directional buttons on a control box to clear the lights in the direction they’re heading. Then, once the unit’s on its way, the interface in the emergency service vehicle’s electrical system, when operating its lights and siren, triggers green lights 700 meters (about 2,296 feet) before the vehicle reaches designated intersections along the route to the incident.
The system does not jeopardize drivers, bikers, or pedestrians moving along the same route.
Motorists don’t have to worry about traffic lights behaving strangely as the ambulance approaches since the device is designed to sequence the lights. The lights change as they normally do, although the duration on red could mean a longer wait when an ambulance is approaching.
The device initially installed in one ambulance was set to control 11 sets of traffic lights in a pilot program that lasted several months. The full rollout should be complete in two years.
