Investigating the Improvement of the Localisation Propensity and Impact of the Emergency Vehicle Sirens 2011-01-0049

Rapid mobilization of emergency vehicles in the urban or rural road network presents a high probability of collisions and other related hazards to other drivers. Yet uninterrupted high speeds of the emergency vehicles through traffic are imperative for the successful patient transfer or negotiation of fire and flood emergencies. The utilisation of contemporary emergency vehicle sirens as an early warning system has proved inefficient and in some cases unsafe as the localisation characteristics of siren patterns, combined with ambient noise, has a detrimental effect on the average driver's ability to spatially define the position of the incoming emergency vehicle. This paper examines the inherent issues in the localisation of the incoming emergency vehicle audible warning systems and suggests a prototype system for faster localisation propensity of the incoming vehicle. Our system follows a two-fold approach that utilises a broader siren sequence and pattern, as well as a Global Positioning System (GPS) broadcast through Radio Data System (RDS) in the close vicinity. In order to evaluate the system we contrasted the existing and proposed methods by simulating the siren localisation impact with the use of the Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC) modeling system in a predetermined emergency scenario positioned in a real environment in the Central Scottish Region between the major cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh where dense traffic typically hinders the emergency services. Finally the paper offers a detailed analysis and discussion of the results and a succinct forecast of additional improvements for further investigation.