Takes more than lights to stay safe
Emergency vehicle lighting and reflectivity are crucial elements in ensuring the safety of first responders on the road. These lights and reflective materials are one way to alert motorists to the presence of emergency vehicles, which can prevent accidents and save lives.
The Curbside SOS team has taken notice of several other ways agencies are leveraging technology to improve safety and reduce the risk of secondary crashes. These include digital platforms, early alerting systems, directional lighting and continued training.
Curbside SOS’s digital platform leverages simple, familiar technology to improve safety by streamlining the tow dispatch process to clear roads faster and more efficiently. Dispatch operates out of an easy to use interface to assign and communicate directly with available towing resources. Continuous visibility into each truck’s real-time ETA provides peace of mind and assurance the truck has arrived on scene. Digital records are associated with every single tow request for future reference. Eliminating the unnecessary back and forth over the phone to share details and track status.
While Curbside SOS helps streamline the tow dispatching process to clear the scene faster, another technology the team sees out in the field is early alert systems that can provide motorists with in-vehicle, real-time alerts about the presence of emergency vehicles ahead. One such system is Safety Cloud by HAAS Alert. This system helps reduce the risk of secondary crashes by alerting oncoming motorists to the presence of emergency vehicles ahead and giving them time to slow down and move over.
On scene lighting is intended to protect first responders but some lights can provide glare and reduce visibility, reducing the intended benefits. Directional lighting is an innovation that is being used to reduce the negative impacts of emergency vehicle lighting. This type of lighting allows the operator to control the direction of the light beam, reducing glare and improving visibility for both the operator and other drivers on the road. In addition, reflective materials on emergency vehicles can improve visibility at night and in low light conditions, making it easier for motorists to see emergency vehicles from a distance.
While these technologies and innovations are helping to improve safety on the road, it is important to note that proper training and education are also essential for first responders. Training on how to use emergency vehicle lighting and reflective materials effectively, as well as proper protocols for responding to incidents on the road, can help reduce the risk of accidents and keep first responders and motorists safe.
What we’ve learned in this industry is that while emergency vehicle lighting and reflectivity play an important part in ensuring the safety of first responders on the road this is a complex challenge that requires multiple approaches to solve. Approaches that include using emerging technologies, such as early alert systems, the use of Curbside SOS to streamline tow requests and directional lighting can contribute to improving safety. This reduces the risk of secondary crashes. With the right technology and training, we can continue to improve the safety for our first responders and motorists on the road every day. to keep our first responders and motorists safe on the road.