Emergency Vehicles Alert (EVA)

Traffic safety is a significant issue for emergency vehicles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 2014), every year in the United States there are on average:

• 4,500 crashes involving ambulances, resulting in
• 33 fatalities, and
• 2,600 injured persons.

Response time is also a problem for emergency vehicles. In Europe, there are approximately 151 million emergency calls per year. It is estimated that the societal cost of a one-minute delay in emergency response is €1180 (Jaldell, 2004). This means that if every emergency response is delayed by one minute or more, the societal cost is around €180 bln/year.

Emergency vehicles traditionally use lights and sirens to warn other road users that they are approaching, so that a clear path can be provided. However, research indicates three key issues with these warning systems:

• Lights and sirens have limited range, and road users often don’t see or hear them until it is too late.
• Vehicles are becoming more well-insulated from the outside world, so sirens are less effective.
• When drivers see or hear an emergency vehicle, they are often unsure about what to do.

Download your free copy of the Emergency Vehicles Alert (EVA) whitepaper and learn all about in-car warning messages to improve road safety.