Sandy Springs Approves Software To Give EMS Green Lights

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — The City of Sandy Springs is adding vehicle-to-infrastructure technology to automatically give emergency vehicles green lights as they drive to emergency locations. The Sandy Springs City Council approved the purchase of the system during its meeting Tuesday.

The preemption system combines cellular, radio, and GPS technology with a cloud-based software system to process the route as emergency vehicles leave the station, communicating wirelessly with the traffic cabinet to begin clearing traffic ahead of the vehicle’s arrival at the intersection. The system monitors the route progress in real-time, dynamically adapting preemption requests as the situation requires.

The Sandy Springs Fire Department received more than 14,000 calls for service in 2019 with a majority of the calls occurring out of Fire Stations No. 1, 2, and 4, which encompasses routes along Roswell Road in the heart of the city. An ongoing challenge is maneuvering around stopped traffic and traffic queuing at the intersections. With preemption technology, the city estimates a savings of approximately 10-12 seconds per intersection or an overall savings of 20 percent in response time.

The city approved the purchase of technology to equip all Sandy Springs Fire vehicles and ambulances as well as 113 signalized intersections. The cost of equipment and installation is $676,284. The city council had set aside $700,000 in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget to fund this project.

For more information about the City of Sandy Springs, visit online at www.sandyspringsga.gov or call the Citizen Response Center at 770-730-5600.