Now Drivers Can Hear Emergency Vehicles despite Loud Music in their Cars

In Stockholm, ambulances will soon be piloting a system that interrupts whatever you are listening to – be it a Bluetooth, CD, tuner or any other source of music, and broadcasts a voice warning that an emergency automobile is heading your way.

Introduced by the students at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, the solution comprises a radio transmission from the emergency automobile to nearby FM tuners that are well integrated with Radio Data System or RDS.

“The signal is transmitted over the FM band along with the transmission of a text message that appears in the display of tuner,” says Florian Curinga, one of the three students at the KTH who introduced the solutions – known as EVAM System. Crashes involving motorists who did not hear sirens are becoming more popular and thanks to enhancements in sound insulation, confirm Curinga.

“Most of the times, drivers have only couple of seconds to react and deliver a way to any emergency vehicle,” says Curinga’s partner, Mikael Ernerberg, who had also studied industrial engineering at KTH. “The optimal warning time is at least 10 to 15 seconds.”

As long as the tuner is turned on, a voice message will broadcast on the system. Unlike sirens and lights, the overall warning system anticipates how far in advance messages need to be heard depending on the total speed of local traffic. On a highway, for instance, the signal would broadcast at a much earlier pace than in a slow city with hefty traffic ratio.

So there might be some variations in the overall usability of the equipment on the basis of traffic ratio, it would be still a great deal for emergency vehicles that are sometimes not able to meet their standards and destinations on-time, because of vehicles moving with high music volume or noise. The thing is even if you are talking and there is an emergency automobile that needs to rush in then you would be able to receive the message in advance. It is an excellent way to manage your speed, especially when you are travelling distances at a high speed.

Curings says that the entire EVAM System would reach two-thirds of all the vehicles on the road. Also, it can warn individual drivers with accidents along the path they are driving. As being stated by Curinga on a concluding note, “It fulfils all three functions that we expected from a device. These three functions are enhanced accessibility for the first responders, increasing road safety and making the entire functioning environment in transport much better for vulnerable professions.”