Emergency vehicles get greener lights

Kaua’i emergency medical, fire and police personnel responding to emergency situations got a boost Monday from the state Department of Transportation.

At a morning briefing, the new 3M Opticon Priority Control system which will be installed in ambulances and fire department vehicles islandwide was unveiled.

At the heart of the traffic control system is a manually operated emitter installed on the emergency vehicle. At the option of the vehicle’s operator, the device will force traffic signals to speed up their normal street cycle to give a green light to the responding emergency vehicle.

Once the vehicle has crossed the intersection, the light cycle returns to its previously programmed street mode.

“This is expensive. About $1,000 per vehicle. Once the emergency vehicle goes by, the light goes back to its regular cycle. We spend a lot of time stuck in traffic and this will keep the traffic in front of us running, too. It will also save us a minute or two on calls, which could be very important,” said Jay Peters, an assistant battalion chief for the Kaua’i County Fire Department.

The new system will expedite the response time from emergency vehicles approaching intersections with heavy traffic. But Zack Octavio, island manager for the AMR ambulance service, said that his operators will still use caution when approaching intersection traffic.

DOT official Steve Kyono explained that 47 of the units were acquired for Kaua’i ambulance and fire vehicles under a federal program to upgrade traffic signals.

Kyono noted that although the system has been tested on Maui and Oahu, Kaua’i is the first island to implement the system islandwide.

Staff writer Dennis Wilken contributed to this report. Staff photographer Dennis Fujimoto can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) and mailto:dfujimoto@pulitzer.net