Seconds Count
Reaching an emergency scene as quickly as possible is a constant challenge for responders, often hindered by issues like traffic congestion. In emergency situations, every second counts, and saving seconds can make a significant difference in saving lives.
For over 60 years, Opticom Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) has enabled first responders to serve their communities quickly and safely. With Opticom’s industry-leading EVP solution, police cars, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles can navigate through traffic more efficiently, reducing delays and improving response times.
Working Together To Solve The Problem
San Rafael is one of many cities that integrated Opticom cloud-connected technology to enable a swift and safe emergency response experience. Recently, a webinar was held with guest speakers Sergeant Graham of the San Rafael Police Department, Head of Traffic, Rafat Raie, and more experts to share their real-life experience using and implementing Opticom technology to improve safety and response time for emergency vehicles while balancing the needs of the Traffic Department..
The San Rafael x Opticom Solution
Issue: The City of San Rafael needed to efficiently and safely improve emergency response times in a highly congested area that created challenges for emergency vehicles.
Implementation: As a flexible solution, the Opticom team assessed the existing hardware and city budget and implemented a cost-effective strategy. By utilizing existing infrastructure, the city saved money and expedited deployment.
Result: Faster emergency response times and safer routes for 56 police and fire vehicles across 53 signalized intersections.
In the webinar, the team of experts also discussed benefits of Opticom EVP including:
- Ensuring traffic lights favour emergency vehicles, reducing delays by up to 25%.
- Reducing risk of intersection collisions involving emergency vehicles by up to 70%.
- Integrating with existing hardware to speed up deployment seamlessly, thanks to the Opticom & Whelen collaboration.
- Providing scalable technology that meets customers where they are and provides a safe path to where they need to be with device to cloud communication.