Study on Cases of Priority Traffic Signal System for Emergency Vehicles: Based on a City’s Pilot Operation Cases in Chungcheongbukdo Province

Abstract

The aim of this study is to suggest ways to capitalize on the golden period for timely response to fire and emergency victims. To implement a system to effectively capitalize on the golden period, there is a need for policy measures as well as legal and social consensus. Precedent research has relentlessly mentioned the need for and feasibility of the priority traffic system for emergency vehicles. To this end, the present study involved an analysis of pilot cases of the priority traffic signal system for emergency vehicles introduced in a city during 26 days, from April 3 to 28, 2017. Out of 58 cases registered with the local 1-1-9 fire house, the number of cases that took advantage of the priority traffic system stood at 16 in response to fire and 11 to first-aid operations. Owing to the system, on average, the response time reduced by 3 min and 50 s in case of fire and by 3 min and 30 s for first aid. There were four complaints registered owing to traffic congestion, and the number of car accidents declined to one from six over the same period in the previous year. Based on these findings, it is safe to say that the priority traffic signal system would be effective for emergency vehicles to capitalize on the golden period if issues identified during the pilot run are resolved.

Prediction of Travel Time of Fire Service using Kriging and Weighted-sum Technique

“…), and its effectiveness has been verified. According to J. H Kim and H. J. Lee [31], an analysis of the pilot operation cases in April 2017 revealed that the average fire response time was shortened by 3 min 50 s. In this case, it is concluded that the weight application considerably influences a fire service's traveltime prediction.…”