Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department are using a new program in their police cars that provides a temporary right-of-way through intersections for these vehicles in emergency situations. The program is called the Opticom GPS system.
SCMPD explained how the system works:
“The vehicle GPS unit obtains its position, speed and heading information from GPS satellites, their turn signal status is also monitored. Then, the vehicle’s unit transmits this information and the vehicle’s ID to the intersection. The Intersection radio receives the information and sends a priority request to the equipment located in the traffic controller cabinet. The traffic controller’s input is programmed to provide a green light for the approaching vehicle and the activity is logged.”
Presently there are 90 cars equipped with the system. There are 80 intersections that can interact with the system.