New Opticom Technology for Law Enforcement Expected to Reduce Intersection Crashes by up to 70%
Global Traffic Technologies and the Chula Vista (Calif.) Police Department collaborate on a proof of concept to clear intersections and improve community safety.
September 1, 2020 (ST. PAUL, Minn.) – Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) and the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) are piloting a new solution designed to improve safety within the community it serves.
Emergency vehicle preemption (EVP) technology allows equipped vehicles to request a green light upon approach to an intersection when responding to a time-sensitive call. Once granted, the traffic light stays green until the emergency vehicle has safely cleared the intersection.
CVPD is the first police department in the United States to deploy the software-based, cloud-hosted priority control solution from Opticom™, which clears intersections when police are responding to high-priority calls, thus preventing accidents and reducing response times to incidents.
“When we get a call for service, arriving safely and as quickly as possible can determine whether or not we catch a suspect or save a life,” said Lt. Don Redmond, who manages technology for the CVPD. “We’re fortunate in that our Chief of Police, Roxana Kennedy, is always open to looking outside the box when it comes to technology, including working with GTT on this pilot for EVP technology.”
While police departments have been using EVP for many years, this pilot was launched to prove the value of incident-based preemption, which enables officers to get the green light when responding to certain high-priority calls, as defined by an agency’s or municipality’s EVP usage policy. These locally established rules help allay concerns about system misuse and/or disruptions to normal traffic flow.
“EVP has proven to be effective at getting fire trucks to an emergency quickly and safely,” GTT Director of Product Management Chad Mack said. “Law enforcement departments operate differently in terms of volume of calls and dispatch behaviors, requiring new features to address their specific operations. GTT is adding new features to its market-leading Opticom preemption solution to ensure law enforcement officers reach the highest-priority incidents safely and quickly, while minimizing disruption to everyday traffic flow for all other incident types.”
About GTT
GTT provides a clear path to smarter and safer mobility for communities worldwide. GTT’s Opticom intelligent transportation solutions help to increase safety, minimize traffic congestion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while maximizing resource efficiency and performance. Thousands of emergency, transit and traffic agencies have trusted the innovative, comprehensive Opticom traffic solutions for more than 50 years. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, GTT is the market leader in traffic management systems, having an installed base of more than 180,000 connected devices in over 3,100 municipalities worldwide, including 41 of the 50 largest U.S. cities. To learn more, please visit www.gtt.com.
About Chula Vista (Calif.) Police Department
Led by Chief Roxana Kennedy, the Chula Vista Police Department leads a department of 249 sworn officers, 106 civilian employees, and more than a hundred volunteers. The department maintains a budget of $58.3 million and provides law enforcement services to a community of more than 270,000 people. Chula Vista is the second largest city in San Diego County, the 13th largest in the state and the 89th largest in the country. It was recently designated the 10th safest city in the U.S. for jurisdictions with more than 200,000 population. For more information, please visit https://www.chulavistaca.gov/departments/police-department.
