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Virginia Officials Approve Traffic Control Devices in Wake of Fatal Apparatus Crash
JANELLE RUCKER
Roanoke Times
Reprinted with Permission
ROCKY MOUNT - By June, the town's public safety employees will have a system to control traffic when they're on their way to an emergency, like the late fire chief and vice mayor Posey Dillon once envisioned.
(Jared Soares/The Roanoke Times)
Related
The town council approved $270,000 in contracts Monday night to install the Opticom Public Safety Traffic Pre-emption System on traffic signals at 22 intersections in the town.
A device will also be installed in 30 first-response vehicles that will automatically give them the green light, while stopping others from entering the intersection.
Dillon first proposed the technology a few years ago, but the price tag kept the council from approving it. In July, Dillon and firefighter Danny Altice were killed answering a call in Union Hall when the fire engine Dillon was driving was hit by a Ford Escape at Old Franklin Turnpike and School Board Road. The driver of the Ford had the green light.
"It's a shame it's the result of a tragedy we suffered nine months ago," but good can come from a tragedy, said Mayor Steve Angle of the pre-emption system. Where cost was a roadblock before, the community made sure it wasn't a problem this time. Local businessmen started the Lights for Life fundraiser soon after the crash and have raised more than $275,000 in donations, Town Manager James Ervin said. Of that, the town will receive $150,000 to help with expenses. The rest will come from grant money and funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation, said Ervin.
"There's no way this would've happened without the community," Angle said.
The rest of the money raised will go to equip intersections and emergency vehicles outside town limits in Franklin County. The county board of supervisors has also pledged to add money to donations to purchase the equipment.
Roanoke Times
Reprinted with Permission
ROCKY MOUNT - By June, the town's public safety employees will have a system to control traffic when they're on their way to an emergency, like the late fire chief and vice mayor Posey Dillon once envisioned.
(Jared Soares/The Roanoke Times)
Related
- Roanoke.com: Rocky Mount OKs Emergency Traffic Controls
- NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation: Virginia Rollover
- Fire Truck Tragedy in Rocky Mount, Virginia
The town council approved $270,000 in contracts Monday night to install the Opticom Public Safety Traffic Pre-emption System on traffic signals at 22 intersections in the town.
A device will also be installed in 30 first-response vehicles that will automatically give them the green light, while stopping others from entering the intersection.
Dillon first proposed the technology a few years ago, but the price tag kept the council from approving it. In July, Dillon and firefighter Danny Altice were killed answering a call in Union Hall when the fire engine Dillon was driving was hit by a Ford Escape at Old Franklin Turnpike and School Board Road. The driver of the Ford had the green light.
"It's a shame it's the result of a tragedy we suffered nine months ago," but good can come from a tragedy, said Mayor Steve Angle of the pre-emption system. Where cost was a roadblock before, the community made sure it wasn't a problem this time. Local businessmen started the Lights for Life fundraiser soon after the crash and have raised more than $275,000 in donations, Town Manager James Ervin said. Of that, the town will receive $150,000 to help with expenses. The rest will come from grant money and funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation, said Ervin.
"There's no way this would've happened without the community," Angle said.
The rest of the money raised will go to equip intersections and emergency vehicles outside town limits in Franklin County. The county board of supervisors has also pledged to add money to donations to purchase the equipment.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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Opitcom is a good system, we have it and it works well. The only issue is that the first vehicle to approach trips the light to green so apparatus coming in from the other direction will have a red light.
Regardless of gaining the green light, apparatus still needs to approach and take the intersection carefully, cars with the red will still attempt to go right on red. It's not a fail proof system and in affect is treating the symptom and not the cause: emergency vehicles still need to approach with caution.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Regardless of gaining the green light, apparatus still needs to approach and take the intersection carefully, cars with the red will still attempt to go right on red. It's not a fail proof system and in affect is treating the symptom and not the cause: emergency vehicles still need to approach with caution
Absolutely.
We also have opticom and works as you state as well, but it is not foolproof by any means, we even had some close calls recorded on drive cams because the general public was not paying attention, you still need to drive with Due Regard.
Another thing we will do if multiple stations are going to the same address is announce on the radio when approaching an intersection where rigs could meet. Not an excuse to go through, but gives a heads up.
Also, to emphasize an example of approaching an intersection cautiously, we had several calls at one time and the rig I was driving responding from the hospital into another district. While approaching an intersection there was an ambulance coming a different direction and activated the opticom first. (they were going to a different call) We met at the intersection at the same time, both responding lights and sirens, had I not yielded with Due Regard, you would probably be reading about us here. So yes, just because you have a green doesn't mean an intersection will always be clear.
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