Emergency vehicles can trigger a green light
By Heather Ratcliffe
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ST. LOUIS — As a city Fire Department battalion chief began recovering Friday from serious injuries in a hit-and-run crash with a stolen car, officials said they look forward to new technology that might help make first responders safer.
Douglas Cribbs, 46, was responding to a fire with his lights and siren on about 7 p.m. Thursday when a stolen Oldsmobile pulled in front of his SUV on St. Louis Avenue near Elliot Avenue.
Fellow firefighters had to cut Cribbs from his battered Chevrolet Tahoe, which flipped onto its side. He suffered a concussion, broken rib and cut to the head, officials said. He was in serious but stable condition at St. Louis University Hospital.
Police said they were still looking for the driver of the stolen Oldsmobile and a passenger who fled on foot after the crash. Another passenger, who was sitting in the front seat, was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Meanwhile, fire officials said devices will soon be installed on signals at 100 of St. Louis’ most dangerous intersections that will allow approaching emergency vehicles to give themselves a green signal. Equipment to activate the sensors will be installed in the next few weeks on all city fire trucks, ambulances and battalion chief vehicles.
Such gear would not have mattered in Thursday’s crash, at an intersection with no signal.
St. Louis Fire Chief Sherman George said the system would allow an emergency vehicle driver to trigger right-of-way at a signal from up to 2,500 feet away.
“We have to do everything we can to protect the safety of our firefighters and the citizens,” George said. “If it works, we’ll expand it.”
Officials said a federal grant helped the city fund the $1 million project.
Creve Coeur firefighters and the Belleville police and fire department already use a similar system.
“It seems to help, however, it depends on what traffic is doing ahead of you,” said Creve Coeur Assistant Chief Don Abramovitz, whose department installed it about a year ago. “I think we will find it will increase safety as well as improve our response time.”