An E-Light emergency vehicle alert system like this soon will be installed at two intersections in Wyandotte.
By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE — Blaring sirens on emergency vehicles usually are pretty hard to ignore.
But a new emergency alert system here will make ambulances and fire trucks even more visible.
The Police and Fire departments soon will install emergency vehicle alert systems by Livonia-based E-Light LLC at two city intersections.
The systems, which resemble traffic lights, automatically alert drivers when an emergency vehicle is 1,500 to 2,500 feet from the intersection by flashing an icon of a fire truck.
Two Eureka Road intersections — at Fort and at Biddle — soon will showcase four system units facing each direction, after the project got the green light from the City Council at their Monday meeting.
The systems have been installed in Dearborn Heights, Grosse Ile and Brownstown Township and have been successful, Wyandotte Police Chief Daniel Grant said.
A list of 11 intersections in the Downriver area will receive the systems, at a cost of $151,200. Grant said “every bit” of that cost will be covered by federal grant money and is approved by the Downriver Community Conference.
The 11 intersections were chosen by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments following a review of vehicle incident data from 31 Downriver intersections with high levels of vehicle collisions.
The Wyandotte intersections were chosen for their proximity to area hospitals, as well as high rate of accidents.
As more funding becomes available, more of the 31 intersections will be addressed, Grant said.