Fast Emergency Vehicle Preemption Systems

In an automotive society that increasingly depends on cars, the National Police Agency is tackling the problem of operation support of emergency vehicles for incidents, accidents, and other emergency cases in order to manage traffic appropriately. This support of emergency vehicle operations is considered to be one of nine developing fields in Japan’s intelligent transportation systems. Recently, to deal with an increasing crime rate, a growing number of accidents, and problems with the elderly, more and more emergency vehicles are being dispatched. Against this background, it is indispensable for the police administration, as the manager of traffic and as an important instrument for maintaining peace and order, to help emergency vehicles in urgent situations reach the scene at the earliest possible moment and to prevent accidents during operations. Fast emergency preemption systems have a two-way communication function through the use of an infrared beacon, which is the key infrastructure of a traffic control system. Such a system supports the operation of emergency vehicles in a safe and effective manner by using route guidance and priority signal control; it also warns civilian vehicles about approaching emergency vehicles.