OPTICOM SYSTEM practical in Westchester County?

[61MACKBR1 222]

Just read about this New Devise called the "OPTICOM SYSTEM" that would allow all "Responders" (Fire Trucks, Ambulance/Rescues, and Police" the abilities to change the status of Traffic Light Patterns, directly from their respective Rigs, in order to clear a path from their place of dispatch to the repective Emergency Scene. Obviously, with "TIME" being the largest factor in "Dispatch Time" this new technology could go a long way in reducing response times. Could such a system work well within Westchester County? I see it being practical in the larger cities such as Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains, where traffic flow is critical. In my opinion, it would be less practical for some of the rural communities within the county. Does anyone have any thoughts on this and does anyone have any knowledge whether or not any of the Major Cities within the County are looking into this at all?

[Guest Truckie 1075]

i think it would be great for reducing both response times and apparatus accedents.. it's just a matter of money..

[ONLOCATION 24]

I think it would be benficial for the County Departments to look into this system. Depending on your area you might not need it as much as others but it is more than just response times to me it could also be looked at as a saftey feature. Instead of having to make hazardous driving conditions while responding to alarms approaching stopped traffic and decreasing potental traffic accidents. A few Rockland Departments have used the OPTICOM SYSTEM for some time and I have never heard anything negative about the system. Nanuet, West Nyack, Pearl River, and possibly Orangeburg have the System. I don't know much about the System but I'm pretty sure that you only have to equip certain lights that you want in your district, with this feature if you might have a small area but 1 or 2 dangerous intersections that this would be good having in place.

[JohnnyOV 2]

how much does this system cost? And what is required for instalation in the apparuatus?

[TRUCK6018 50]

This is not a new system.

I know some that use it in their respective departments (Greenwich, Ct/Poughkeepsie, NY) and it has it's advantages. It will stop all traffic at an intersection the vehicle is approaching except the direction of the emergency vehicle.

The downside is if you're stopped on the side of the road with you emergency lights on, you have to remember to turn it off or else you can hold up a considerable amount of traffic.

What is required on the emergency vehicle is a transmitting light that trips the receivers at the intersections.

Edited November 13, 2005 by TRUCK6018

[COMMANDCHIEF 4]

I just heard a report on this for NYC today. The cost is $8,000 per intersection, and $1000 per vehicle.

And yea, it has been around for some time.

[mikeinet 37]

The city of Syracuse has this fully implimented and is used by every piece of fire apparatus (inc. chiefs) - its not 100% reliable due to angles and the way light travels.

What happens is there's a reciever on each traffic signal that faces each direction of oncoming traffic - then each vehicle has a strobe that's programmed at a specific rate that triggers the light to quickly change to a green for oncoming traffic.

In one sense - this makes it "safer" as now a rig is always passing a green light... but I feel like it creates somewhat of a false-sense of security. I've seen SFD running through intersections WAY too quickly and not "clearing their intersection" correctly... just worried one day a rig will be blowing an intersection at 40mph and someone's going to run the quickly changed red light because they didnt have enough time to slow down (ie: if they were speeding)

Overall though, very cool system for larger cities. In smaller rural areas, I don't really think it's worth the money.

[JBJ1202 27]

We have had the OPTICOM SYSTEM on E-240, TL-53, AND R-30 for a couple of years now. We have one reciever at the intersection of Purchase St. and Anderson Hill Rd. facing westbound (towards white plains). At certain times of the day that intersection can be very busy. It has worked great for us...

Edited November 14, 2005 by JBJ1202

[Jybehofd 85]

My department has it so we can stop traffic when we are pulling out of the firehouse and on to RTE 22. All our apparatus have the high intense strobe. Only problem I have seen with it is that on our trucks some people forget to turn it on or to turn it off when coming up to that one intersection. It will just take time for use to get use to the new switch. Otherwise I think it works great at stoping traffic, wish all the lights had them at least on RTE 22.

[Guest]

The city of Syracuse has this fully implimented and is used by every piece of fire apparatus (inc. chiefs) - its not 100% reliable due to angles and the way light travels.

←

Was just there, seems like a decent system, but it fails fairly often so I was told by some members of SFD. It does indeed create a false sense of security and they have to be careful not to just bomb through intersections because, fairly often the light doesn't change for one reason or another.

[cas2383 22]

Fairfield CT has opticoms at almost all intersetions and transmitters on every rig. It does cut down the confusion at intersections to say the least, by giving the oncoming emergency vehicle the right of way. However it is not a god send and you must still use caution as people may not be paying close enough attention to see the oncomnig light that just turned green for them cycle back to red due to the oncoming rig.

Plus it should be hooked up to a parking brake or park position as to turn off when you stop the car to not affect the lights further.

[ndemarse 0]

Almost all of the Chicagoland suburbs have them and it works great. The only problem that I have ever heard of it was last year on 4/27 when a Stone Park, IL Engine and a Northlake, IL Engine collided at an intersection going to the same garage fire.

Northlake had the opticom, and control of the light. Stone Park continued through the red and was hit by the Northlake Engine. The boss of the Stone Park rig (also a full-time Chicago Fire Department Paramedic) was killed and the Chauffeur was pinned. Everyone riding in the rigs were hurt to some extent.

The NIOSH Report is available at: Stone Park, IL Firefighter Fatality NIOSH Report

While this crash was probably not the fault of the Opticom, it could be a problem with individual departments having them or not having them. The "shut-off" while parked at intersections shouldn't be a problem. You should have the Opticom wired into the lights that shut off when the rig is parked (some of the rotator, strobe, 888, Roto-ray or other lights shouldn't be operating when the rig is parked on the side of the road) because it blinds drivers. Most of the rigs that I have worked on there are a few lights that shut down in the front and rear when the rig is in neutral and the parking brake is on.

You guys are probably getting sick of my "Chicagoland s***", sorry about that. That is where 11 of my 14 years in the Fire Service was served so it is the bulk of my experience. I apologize!

[wcr20 17]

Hi from Chicagoland... (I still cant get used to that word)

I was just going to say pretty much the same as Nate. Everyone here in my area (northern Cook County) has it, but you do have to watch to make sure you have the capture, otherwise what happened in Stone Park can happen again - and unfortunately - probably will, sooner or later. Like with anything else when operating any vehicle, mush less an emergency vehicle - drive defensively, not offensively.

[mikeinet 37]

To be honest, i'm not really sure the downfall of the system in Syracuse... I think a major part of it is there's a number of hills in the area and coming over the hill and just getting at that right point of contact for the strobe & reciever can be a problem... also, being a very windy area (oh yay) - non-stationary items tend to move around... so if the wind is blowing and the traffic lights sway, then the reciever may not be head-on as positioned for the strobe to hit it... so that could be another issue.