A ‘green wave’ for emergency vehicles

Senior engineer Hamad al-Tamimi explaining a point as Yousef al-Emadi, Abdul Azeez al-Sada,  Col Rasheed Salem al-Malki of the Traffic Department  and other officials look on. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter 

The newly-installed Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption Systems (EVPS) at 30 major intersections across Doha and its immediate neighbourhoods are expected to ensure smooth movement of ambulances and Civil Defence vehicles through the traffic signals in the event of emergency operations.

Senior officials of Ashghal and Ministry of Interior’s Department of Transport yesterday said more of such equipment are to be installed across the country in the coming months as part of the government’s commitment to improve the country’s traffic infrastructure.

The new equipment will allow traffic lights at intersections to recognise Civil Defence vehicles and ambulances as they approach the signals and ensure their uninterrupted movement by switching on the green signal automatically if the red light is on. The whole programme of installation and maintenance for 24 months cost roughly QR3mn.

The EVPS equipment are installed mainly on some of the main roads in Doha and neighbouring areas, including Rayyan and the Industrial Area. The equipment consist of  devices installed on emergency vehicles and  at the intersections besides a master software at Ashghal’s traffic control room in West Bay.

While explaining the features of the EVPS,  Ashghal’s senior engineer and director of asset affairs, Hamad al-Tamimi, said the advance system included GPS devices, supported by sensors which detect the signals from the Civil Defence vehicles and ambulances.

Until now, 15 ambulances and 10 Civil Defence cars are equipped with remote controls capable of sending signals to the traffic lights located more than 100m away.

Ashghal’s manager of road operations and maintenance Yousef al-Emadi hoped the EVPS would cut down significantly the response time of emergency and Civil Defence vehicles and reduce risks of accidents.

“This is because the ambulances or Civil Defence vehicle drivers press a button on the remote control in their vehicles to open the traffic light and ease the traffic flow in front of them,” he said.

Abdul Azeez al-Sada, the head of safety and traffic control at Ashghal,  said the new devices would help streamline traffic on busy roads while ambulances and Civil Defence vehicles are involved in emergency operations.

“The safety of traffic flow is taken into account as other traffic signals at the intersections turn red before sensors mounted on the Civil Defence cars and ambulances and traffic lights open their path.”

The Ashghal official said the vehicles installed with the new equipment would soon be distributed to several locations taking into consideration the impact on the response time to the emergencies.

The drivers of ambulances and Civil Defence cars are trained to use the new system which will not be used except in critical situations.

A committee consisting of the officials of Ashghal, the General Directorate of Civil Defence and Hamad Medical Corporation has been constituted to monitor and assess the new system and provide recommendations and suggestions for improving its performance in the coming months.