DERBY – Storm Ambulance & Rescue Corps recently added a new way to alert drivers when ambulances are headed to an emergency or already on the scene of an accident.
Storms’ Chief Tom Lenart said the ambulance corps purchased the Safety Cloud digital alerting system last month and has since outfitted two of its ambulances with the devices. A third rescue truck is also going to be equipped with the device, Lenart said. The devices cost $399 a piece, he said.
The system delivers real-time notifications to nearby drivers through their existing navigation apps, like Apple Car Play, Google Maps and Waze. There’s no need for drivers to sign up or download an app for alerts, Lenart said, since the systems are most often already built into most vehicles and cell phones.
Lenart said the devices Storms purchased are wired to the ambulance’s emergency lights. Once the lights are activated, a digital message is automatically sent to nearby drivers, with a message displayed on their vehicle’s navigation screen or on their cell phones.
The message drivers see will say “caution, emergency vehicle ahead,” according to Lenart.
The alerts, Lenart said, are an excellent way to help drivers slow down, move over, make safer decisions and alter their route to make way for smoother emergency response times. He also said the alerts can help reduce the risk of secondary crashes and improve safety for first responders and the public.
“Every second counts during an emergency response,” Lenart said. “Safety Cloud adds a critical layer of awareness for drivers, helping them anticipate emergency vehicles and incident scenes before they are visible, which supports safer roads for everyone.”
Since Storms added the alert system in mid-December, Lenart said 672 drivers received alerts delivered directly to their vehicles and cell phones. Lenart said Safety Cloud has a tracking system which shows how many drivers receive the alerts each month.
Lenart said he brought the technology to Storms after speaking with Wallingford’s fire/ambulance chief last November, who already had the Safety Cloud technology in place.
“The more warning we can give to the public, the less chances there are of something else happening, like a secondary crash,” Lenart said. “Very frequently we see an accident on the highway that is a little out of the view of the driver and a secondary crash occurs. This will alert the drivers sooner to slow or move over.”
Derby Mayor Joe DiMartino said the new alert system is a plus for the city.
“I think it’s a great thing because we can let drivers on the road be notified that either an ambulance is approaching or is stopped up ahead and then drivers can go another way and change their route to avoid the area,” DiMartino said.