Star-telegram.com
GRAPEVINE, Calif. — In the last five years, there have been seven crashes involving Grapevine emergency vehicles at or near street intersections. Two accidents involved police vehicles and the others were with fire or emergency medical service vehicles, said Sgt. Robert Eberling, a police department spokesman. While none of the crashes resulted in deaths, they highlight the hazards emergency personnel face in getting through each intersection. Extreme caution must be taken to get around traffic and to avoid oncoming traffic.
To help prevent intersection accidents and to speed the emergency vehicles along, the City Council last week approved spending an initial $285,500 for a traffic signal preemption system. The system, according to the city’s staff report, will allow emergency personnel to change the upcoming traffic signal to green for their vehicles and red for the cross street drivers, “stopping conflicting traffic and allowing traffic in front of the emergency vehicle room to clear a path.”
“This equipment on our vehicles and on the intersection traffic signals will actually change the lights to clear out vehicles. It will improve response time, in some instances as much as 20 percent, improve safety and provide cost savings from less maintenance and fewer accidents,” said Fire Chief Steve Bass.