The core function of the EMTRAC system is to help reduce response times for first responders by enabling their vehicles to automatically request priority through upcoming intersections. However, first-response agencies that use the system often find their own ways to utilize the flexibility that it offers—all in an effort to meet their own goals for improved safety and performance.

At it’s core, the EMTRAC system is about enabling agency vehicles to request signal priority through equipped intersections. However, EMTRAC customers throughout North America have found other ways to use EMTRAC to cut travel and response times.

Traffic engineers from the Northern California region were able to watch demonstrations of the recently released EMTRAC optical Priority Detectors at the ITS trade show in Lodi, California on March 21st.

The very purpose of Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) is to lower response times by requesting signal priority for equipped vehicles. However, the potential for collisions involving first-response vehicles remains a concern even for agencies with basic EVP capability.

The Columbia County Fire Department, which serves a portion of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area, has recently installed the EMTRAC system on many of their fire vehicles, with plans to equip patrol cars and ambulances as well.

KM Enterprises (dba “EMTRAC Systems”) filed an antitrust complaint against Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) on March 23, 2012 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The complaint alleges that GTT engaged in monopolization activities through a series of practices designed to manipulate the market while eliminating competitors from consideration during the competitive-bidding process.

KM Enterprises (dba “EMTRAC Systems”) filed an antitrust complaint against Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) on March 23, 2012 in United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The complaint alleges that GTT engaged in monopolization activities through a series of practices designed to manipulate the market while eliminating competitors from consideration during the competitive-bidding process.

A new white paper is available, which describes some of the specific ways our customers have implemented the EMTRAC system to improve safety and timeliness for their transit agencies. Each customer has their own particular challenges to address. Whether it be ensuring that light-rail train operators obey traffic signals (as with Houston METRO) or granting signal priority for buses behind schedule (as with Metro Transit in Minneapolis), the EMTRAC system is capable of meeting a wide array of transit-agency needs.

The March/April 2011 IMSA Ontario newsletter highlighted the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service that is currently being expanded in Brampton, Ontario. This advanced BRT service was carefully designed to meet specific reliability and efficiency recommendations—and it is the first of its kind in North America.

The Florida Department of Transportation has approved the EMTRAC Priority Management system components for inclusion on their Approved Product List (APL). As a part of this process, the EMTRAC components were evaluated against the FDOT’s minimum specifications for Traffic Control Signals and Devices (Section A700, July 2010).