# Traffic Lights



## Lo2w (May 10, 2018)

Any one running in a system that has the squads/traffic lights set to change for squads?

I volunteered for the union's safety comittee and want to bring the idea up. It'll probably be a non-starter to do the entire city but at least suggesting intersections approaching our hospitals, congested/high traffic areas and intersections that have a high collision rate.


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## DesertMedic66 (May 10, 2018)

Our system uses the opticom system. A special infrared light flashes at a specific frequency to change traffic lights to green in our direction of travel. This system also requires a receiver to be placed on every direction of travel at every intersection.


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## PotatoMedic (May 10, 2018)

We use an opticom system as well.  The county highway district hates that we have them.  They are helpful but you still have to be diligent.


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## Lo2w (May 10, 2018)

DesertMedic66 said:


> Our system uses the opticom system. A special infrared light flashes at a specific frequency to change traffic lights to green in our direction of travel. This system also requires a receiver to be placed on every direction of travel at every intersection.



Have you found it worth it?


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## NPO (May 10, 2018)

A company I used to work at had the opticom system. Originally the strobe system, then the infared one. The infared one works better. I did find it helpful. It was against company policy to oppose traffic, and the opticoms kept our lanes open. 

However not all intersections had them, so sometimes we got stuck at reds. The opticoms were only installed on intersections on the city bus route. The city made a deal with the bus company to help pay for the system, and in turn the buses could use the system too, if they fell behind schedule.


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## DesertMedic66 (May 10, 2018)

I have found them to be very helpful.


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## CALEMT (May 10, 2018)

Lo2w said:


> Have you found it worth it?



Works pretty good for the most part. There are those "troublesome" lights in the valley to where you can be in the crosswalk and its still red. Traffic is another consideration where we're at too. I hate it when I go opposing just to have the light change green when I'm at the intersection... damn dividers...


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## Lo2w (May 10, 2018)

CALEMT said:


> Works pretty good for the most part. There are those "troublesome" lights in the valley to where you can be in the crosswalk and its still red. Traffic is another consideration where we're at too. I hate it when I go opposing just to have the light change green when I'm at the intersection... damn dividers...



We have one street leading into one of our Level 1s that's a divided boulevard. Also on campus of a college so it can get pretty bad at certain hours.


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## CALEMT (May 10, 2018)

Lo2w said:


> We have one street leading into one of our Level 1s that's a divided boulevard. Also on campus of a college so it can get pretty bad at certain hours.



The range on them is pretty decent in my experience so even if traffic is backed up a ways at a intersection you'll more than likely change it.


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## NPO (May 10, 2018)

CALEMT said:


> The range on them is pretty decent in my experience so even if traffic is backed up a ways at a intersection you'll more than likely change it.


Agreed. You can easily "out run" them if you fly up to an intersection at 70mph, but if you slow early it'll be green prior to you getting there.


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## Lo2w (May 10, 2018)

NPO said:


> Agreed. You can easily "out run" them if you fly up to an intersection at 70mph, but if you slow early it'll be green prior to you getting there.





Per division policy we can't exceed the speed limit. Even when we have lights going...


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## CALEMT (May 10, 2018)

NPO said:


> Agreed. You can easily "out run" them if you fly up to an intersection at 70mph, but if you slow early it'll be green prior to you getting there.



While I won't confirm nor deny when I was an EMT I flew on surface streets, however I can confirm that you can easily outrun them. 10 over which is company policy works good with our opticoms.


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## DrParasite (May 11, 2018)

Opticoms are awesome: however they are expensive to install on EVERY traffic light in you coverage area (district, city, county, etc), need to be maintained, as does the equipment on your trucks. 

That all being said, they are much safer than pushing vehicles into an intersection, onto the grassy median, or onto the sidewalk (see it done), and help prevent people form jamming on their breaks when they hear an vehicle behind them.  

From a safety point of view, having them on every light makes your responses much efficient and safer; the only downsides is cost and you can't use them on areas that don't have the sensors installed.


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## Lo2w (May 11, 2018)

DrParasite said:


> Opticoms are awesome: however they are expensive to install on EVERY traffic light in you coverage area (district, city, county, etc), need to be maintained, as does the equipment on your trucks.
> 
> That all being said, they are much safer than pushing vehicles into an intersection, onto the grassy median, or onto the sidewalk (see it done), and help prevent people form jamming on their breaks when they hear an vehicle behind them.
> 
> From a safety point of view, having them on every light makes your responses much efficient and safer; the only downsides is cost and you can't use them on areas that don't have the sensors installed.



Other than manufacturer literature, are there any reports/studies that show response times, safety etc with and without?


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## DesertMedic66 (May 11, 2018)

Lo2w said:


> Other than manufacturer literature, are there any reports/studies that show response times, safety etc with and without?


Probably not considering there is only a few studies of lights and sirens vs no lights or sirens.


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## NPO (May 11, 2018)

DesertMedic66 said:


> Probably not considering there is only a few studies of lights and sirens vs no lights or sirens.


And then you'd have to control for traffic, population density, time of day... Etc.

But anecdotally, it works well.

The large critical care truck (quad cab Freightliner)I used to drive has it wired independently of the emergency lights. So if we had a patient that was not lights and sirens emergent, but needed quick transport, I'd use it. It felt as fast as lights and sirens, but WAY smoother and safer. My medic once requested I do it that way for a patient who was having some sort of cardiac episode and he didn't want to further aggrevate the condition.


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## Tigger (May 11, 2018)

The city of Colorado Springs custom built an Automatic Vehicle Locating system that was tied into the CAD, GIS, and traffic operations center. When a call is received in the MDC, a route is plotted automatically to the call location. Based upon the apparatus position, the AVL can "change" the lights through the interface with traffic operations.


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## NPO (May 11, 2018)

Tigger said:


> The city of Colorado Springs custom built an Automatic Vehicle Locating system that was tied into the CAD, GIS, and traffic operations center. When a call is received in the MDC, a route is plotted automatically to the call location. Based upon the apparatus position, the AVL can "change" the lights through the interface with traffic operations.


That's pretty sweet. Ventura City FD (CA) has a GPS based traffic preemption device. Don't know if it's the same system.


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## Tigger (May 11, 2018)

NPO said:


> That's pretty sweet. Ventura City FD (CA) has a GPS based traffic preemption device. Don't know if it's the same system.


To my knowledge city engineers built it. It is apparently very hard to maintain as well.


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## CALEMT (May 11, 2018)

Tigger said:


> The city of Colorado Springs custom built an Automatic Vehicle Locating system that was tied into the CAD, GIS, and traffic operations center. When a call is received in the MDC, a route is plotted automatically to the call location. Based upon the apparatus position, the AVL can "change" the lights through the interface with traffic operations.



That sounds cool and all, but sounds like a pain in the *** to maintain.


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## Peak (May 13, 2018)

Tigger said:


> The city of Colorado Springs custom built an Automatic Vehicle Locating system that was tied into the CAD, GIS, and traffic operations center. When a call is received in the MDC, a route is plotted automatically to the call location. Based upon the apparatus position, the AVL can "change" the lights through the interface with traffic operations.



The downside is if you have responding units that aren't tied into the system. When we would mutual aid on fire/rescue calls we were often fighting red lights since we were coming a different direction than the city's engines.


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## Tigger (May 13, 2018)

Peak said:


> The downside is if you have responding units that aren't tied into the system. When we would mutual aid on fire/rescue calls we were often fighting red lights since we were coming a different direction than the city's engines.


AMR isn't tied into either.


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