Skip to main content

Canadian police department implements traffic signal priority

The District of Saanich’s Police Department in British Columbia, Canada, has awarded Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) a contract for the implementation of its latest-generation GPS-enabled Opticom pre-emption solution, which works alongside intersection controllers to help ensure emergency vehicles can move through intersections rapidly and safely. Saanich Fire Department is already a user of the Opticom system. The system includes a GPS component for location, direction, speed and ETA, as well as wirel
November 15, 2016 Read time: 1 min
The District of Saanich’s Police Department in British Columbia, Canada, has awarded 542 Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) a contract for the implementation of its latest-generation GPS-enabled Opticom pre-emption solution, which works alongside intersection controllers to help ensure emergency vehicles can move through intersections rapidly and safely. Saanich Fire Department is already a user of the Opticom system.

The system includes a GPS component for location, direction, speed and ETA, as well as wireless radio communications between authorised emergency vehicles and the intersections they approach. When an emergency vehicle needs to navigate an intersection quickly and safely, a request is sent to the intersection’s controller ahead of its arrival, turning the light green and clearing a path to enable the vehicle’s safe passage.

Related Content

  • February 3, 2012
    Consumer telematics driving automotive electronics
    This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was characterised by consumer telematics solutions, writes Dave McNamara
  • April 5, 2016
    Iteris introduces SmartCycle and Vantage Vector Hybrid
    Iteris is using Intertraffic to introduce two important safety innovations. The first is a new video-based bicycle detection system, SmartCycle, which the company says has the unique capability of distinguishing bicycles from other vehicles on the road in any lane. This process provides a special output that is sent to the traffic controller to extend the green time when bicycles are detected, allowing them to safely cross the intersection before the light changes. “Cycling is a way of life in Amsterd
  • May 11, 2016
    Troopers in the TOC – a recipe for success
    A traffic incident management project in Arizona has speeded up reopening closed lanes and saved an estimated $165m through reducing traffic delays. The process for clearing roadway incidents on the Maricopa County freeways in Arizona has always reflected industry best practice with, for instance, a live feed of freeway cameras to the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) dispatch centre and the City of Phoenix Fire dispatch centre. The region has nearly 480km (300 miles) of freeway connecting 27 citi
  • June 17, 2016
    Less travel aggravation to blunt Aggieland fans’ motivation
    Returning travel times to normal within two hours of the end of a major football game was the challenge facing College Station, Adam Lyons explains how this was achieved. College Station, TX, also known as ‘Aggieland’, is located right in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston triangle making the city accessible to over 14 million Texans within less than a four-hour drive. One of the biggest draws to this area is Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the Aggie football games in the fall, mea