In the Netherlands, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management has launched a collaboration with six companies called Safety Priority Services to boost in-car warnings for potentially unsafe situations, including the location of emergency services.
Using the Dutch Urban Data Access Platform (UDAP), road users who use the services of ANWB, Be-Mobile, Hyundai, Inrix, Kia or TomTom will be informed in good time about approaching emergency vehicles, thus contributing to increasing road safety.
UDAP has been exchanging relevant traffic information in the Netherlands for about 18 months to make Dutch roads safer. With Emergency Vehicle Approaching (EVA) messages, road users get more time to choose a suitable place for themselves so that the emergency vehicle can pass safely. This allows the emergency services to arrive at their destination faster and safer when every second can count.
Data exchange via UDAP is based on Monotch’s TLEX platform. Around one billion messages are exchanged via the UDAP platform, with about 60 road authorities connected along with more than 1200 smart roadside devices, including, for example, smart traffic lights and bollards.
Mark Walker, the responsible project manager at Monotch, explains: “The platform works both ways; it shares information with road users and conversely reports the approach of road users to relevant smart infrastructure, such as the next traffic light. The information exchange takes place within a few milliseconds. In the case of the EVA messages, the road user receives information about the direction from which the emergency vehicle is approaching and the current distance to their vehicle. Based on this information (location and time), the EVA messages will only be sent to relevant road users, avoiding unnecessary distractions.”
Images: Monotch, harry_nl
