May/June
2001
The
ITS Public Safety Program: Creating a Public Safety Coalition
by William Baker and Melissa A. Winn
Everyday,
each of us faces the possibility that we, or someone in our families,
could be involved in a life-threatening emergency. But we have confidence
that our law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical, and
traffic management services will be there - when and where we need
them - to keep us out of harm's way or to transfer us to safety. These
public safety agencies strive to meet our expectations, but they are
under increasing pressure as community needs begin to exceed public
safety resources.
The community's
transportation infrastructure is particularly affected by emergency
incidents. Most emergency incidents involve transportation resources
as part of the incident itself - as in the case of a train, air, or
highway crash - and/or as part of the response and recovery effort
- as in getting emergency personnel to the scene and transporting
injured victims to medical facilities.
Public
safety and transportation officials recognize that despite significant
advances in emergency services over the past couple of decades, major
improvements in efficiency and effectiveness can be realized by applying
information technologies to incident detection, response, and management.
Detection technologies could engage public safety resources sooner,
providing swifter medical care to save lives and minimize the consequences
of any injuries sustained and reducing any disruption to other users
of the transportation infrastructure. Response technologies could
speed the delivery of emergency resources to the scene. And developments
in on-scene incident management and coordination could increase the
safety of emergency personnel and reduce delays in stabilizing, investigating,
and clearing the scene.
During
the summer and fall of 2000, a group of high-level public safety and
transportation officials was brought together by the U.S. Department
of Transportation's (DOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
Joint Program Office to consider the interaction between transportation
and public safety and to discuss opportunities for using new technologies
to enhance community safety.
The ITS
program is a federal initiative to apply advanced technologies to
improve the safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of the nation's
surface transportation network. The ITS program includes a national
architecture, which is a master plan to ensure that information generated
in one part of the transportation network can be communicated and
used in other parts of the system.
While
safety has been a central ITS concern since the program's inception
in 1992, the formation of the ITS Public Safety Program in 2000 increased
this focus. The mission of the ITS Public Safety Program is to increase
transportation safety and efficiency by enabling more effective police,
fire, and emergency operations. The key goal is to deploy interoperable
procedures and technologies for public safety and transportation operations.
DOT is facilitating the development of integrated public safety information
systems and evaluating the technical feasibility and operational benefits
of such systems for resolving traffic incidents.
This
new effort links the operations of a number of agencies with concerns
about transportation and public safety. Within DOT, the program is
coordinated among the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal
Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Beyond DOT, the program
is linked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal
Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).
Despite
the involvement of these federal agencies, community public safety
is fundamentally a state and local responsibility. Therefore, the
ITS Public Safety Program needs to be guided by public safety representatives
with the best understanding of and influence on local law enforcement,
emergency medical services (EMS), fire departments, and traffic systems.
To provide
this guidance, the ITS Public Safety Program Steering Group was formed,
and steering group members were selected to represent a cross section
of the services involved in public safety and transportation operations.
With their background and expertise in public safety and transportation
and with an understanding of the potential role of the federal ITS
program, the steering group shaped the basic parameters of the ITS
Public Safety Program.
The steering
group formulated an overall vision for the ITS Public Safety Program.
The group determined that while the program may eventually grow to
address the comprehensive range of potential transportation emergencies,
the immediate focus of the program will be on actual highway incidents.
As a
means for laying out an overall approach, the steering group developed
a motor vehicle crash scenario to address opportunities for technological
intervention to enhance incident prevention, detection, response,
scene management, patient transport, and normalization of traffic
flow.
|
The
ITS Intelligent Vehicle Initiative is currently developing
in-vehicle equipment to prevent incidents such as run-off-the
road crashes and rear-end collisions. |
|
Incident
Prevention
Although the ITS Public Safety Program has a strong interest in pre-crash
issues, the primary initial interest of the program is post-crash.
However, the steering group did focus on opportunities to use information
technology to prevent incidents from occurring. The ITS Intelligent
Vehicle Initiative is currently developing in-vehicle equipment to
prevent incidents such as run-off-the-road crashes and rear-end collisions.
Similarly, the ITS Public Safety Program is emphasizing public safety
operations, such as motorist alert systems to prevent collisions with
emergency vehicles and traffic alert devices to advise motorists of
the presence of emergency personnel on the roadway at crash scenes.
Detection
and Notification
Once a serious motor vehicle crash occurs, the public safety system
needs to be engaged as quickly as possible. In many emergencies, this
occurs when someone places a 9-1-1 call. The growth of wireless telecommunications
offers many potential benefits, but it also brings some challenges.
About
one of every three 9-1-1 calls now comes from a wireless phone, and
that proportion is rapidly increasing. The benefit is instant on-scene
emergency communications, enabling a quicker response and creating
an opportunity for dispatchers to give critical instructions to bystanders
to enable them to care for injured victims while the emergency personnel
are en route. However, the current wireless system cannot automatically
locate callers - an essential piece of information for dispatchers.
|
Automated
collision-notification (ACN) systems link to a call center,
where operators determine the type of assistance needed
and notify the appropriate public emergency response agencies. |
|
The national wireless telecommunications system needs to be upgraded
to provide location information while preserving the privacy of wireless
users. The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that by
October 2001, all cellular/wireless providers must provide geo-location
capabilities (the location of the caller) to those public service
answering points (PSAPs) with the capability to receive the information.
Another
concern regards the number of duplicate calls for the same incident.
With the increasing popularity of mobile phones, emergency communications
officials report that as many as 25 percent of 9-1-1 calls are duplicate
reports of the same incident. Technology is needed to collate these
calls and reduce the burden on 9-1-1 centers.
Also,
in many incidents, such as single-vehicle rural crashes, there may
not be another person at the scene to call for assistance. About one-third
of all fatal crashes are single-vehicle rural accidents; therefore,
developing a system of automatic incident detection is a high priority
for the ITS Public Safety Program.
Already,
there are technologies in place that can be integrated into such a
system. For instance, mayday systems link vehicles equipped with in-vehicle
communications systems to private call centers, where operators determine
the type of assistance needed and, when needed, connect the call to
the appropriate public emergency response agencies. The mayday system
is activated by the deployment of a car's air bag or by pushing an
emergency call button.
Several
automobile manufacturers now offer mayday systems. General Motors,
for example, began factory installation of "OnStar" in 1998.
OnStar now has more than 300,000 subscribers, and General Motors projects
that the number of subscribers will increase to several million in
the next three or four years. ATX Technologies also provides emergency
mayday services to many other automobile manufacturers such as Nissan
and Mercedes.
Sophisticated
automated collision notification (ACN) systems are also capable of
providing additional information describing collision severity. Knowing
the severity of the crash, emergency personnel can determine the likelihood
of severe injury; the nature of the injuries, problems, and/or obstacles
they may face; the equipment, supplies, and vehicles that may be needed
at the scene; and the trauma support that may be needed at the hospital.
As these
devices become more widely available to consumers, there is an immediate
need to integrate the operations of private sector mayday call centers
(who initially respond to mayday devices) and the more than 6,000
PSAPs who dispatch help to crash scenes in the United States.
The National
Mayday Readiness Initiative (NMRI), a component of the ITS Public
Safety Program, established consensus for integrating mayday capabilities
with the present and future 9-1-1 and EMS systems.
NMRI
was co-sponsored by DOT, General Motors, and the ComCARE Alliance.
The six-month NMRI initiative was supported by funding from DOT and
a grant from General Motors.
This
initiative resulted in a set of recommended guidelines released in
October 2000. They include guidance regarding new training standards
for both public and private emergency dispatchers, a national emergency
contact directory, and operational standards for telematics companies.
Response
Emergency response is time-critical. The overall effect of a transportation
incident on the community is highly dependent on the time required
to get emergency personnel and equipment to the scene, take control
of the incident, alleviate hazards, transport victims, and control
traffic at the site.
While
quick response is critical, sending high-speed emergency vehicles
through local traffic has potential costs to the community. The costs
include an additional crash risk and traffic delay. Crashes involving
responding emergency vehicles are not uncommon. And traffic management
methods such as signal preemption (making traffic lights on the route
turn green as the emergency vehicles approach the intersection) can
cause substantial traffic delays.
Research
and technology development are needed to minimize response time without
sacrificing community safety or mobility. Potential solutions involving
vehicles and infrastructure need to be explored to reduce emergency-vehicle
crashes. Precise information regarding the location of the incident,
the number of vehicles and victims involved, appropriate patient destinations,
nearest water supply for fire suppression, other emergency equipment
on scene or en route, optimal routing to the scene, and surrounding
traffic conditions would facilitate the delivery of the appropriate
amount and type of equipment.
On-Scene
Operations
Serious transportation incidents often require a response by several
agencies. Emergency medical, fire, and law enforcement personnel from
several jurisdictions may be on the scene providing care, managing
hazards, and controlling traffic flow. Emergency scenes are highly
dynamic situations in which operations require constant assessment
and redirection to manage unpredictable dangers. Communication and
information-sharing among responding agencies are critical for successful
rescue and recovery efforts.
A serious
shortcoming noted by the ITS Public Safety Program Steering Group
is that communication among agencies is often difficult due to differences
in radio format and protocols. Emergency personnel from neighboring
jurisdictions frequently cannot reach one another by radio, or they
need separate radios to share information with other agencies. Interoperability
is critically needed among emergency communications systems - not
only among police, fire, and EMS, but with transportation and public
works personnel as well.
A number
of challenges are preventing progress in this area, including restrictions
in available radio bandwidth, aging communications equipment, and
limited public safety budgets. Innovative technologies and techniques
are needed to address these issues.
Patient
Transport
Transportation emergencies frequently involve serious injuries that
require prompt treatment at trauma facilities. In recent years, the
quality and availability of definitive care have advanced greatly.
Trauma care systems have been developed in many states to move injured
victims to facilities that provide the appropriate level of care,
ensuring that even remote locations have access to the highest level
of care needed.
|
Serious
transportation incidents often require a response by several
agencies. The ITS Public Safety Program Steering Group
noted that communication among agencies is often difficult
due to differences in radio format and protocols. Innovative
technologies and techniques are needed to address these
isues. |
|
However,
further improvements in trauma care are possible by communicating
patient-care data between the ambulance and the trauma center. Information
concerning the specific nature of an injury and patient condition
can allow trauma professionals to prescribe early treatment by emergency
medical technicians while either on the scene or in transport. Alerting
the trauma facility of a patient's impending arrival and condition
can also save critical time by allowing the trauma center's staff
to gather the appropriate personnel and equipment to fit the patient's
needs. Electronic access to patient medical records, either carried
by the patient or from a central location, could allow physicians
to make more accurate diagnoses or prepare for a patient who needs
specialized care.
Traffic
Recovery
In dense urban areas or locations with high traffic flow, emergency
incidents can have a devastating effect on mobility and commerce.
Rapid recovery of safe, routine traffic flow is critical for community
well-being and to reduce the probability of secondary incidents caused
by traffic interruption.
Reducing
incident recovery time requires a rapid exchange of information. In
addition, transportation officials need to be promptly involved to
ensure that traffic routing is handled efficiently and that roadway
clean-up personnel are at the site and are ready for immediate action
once the incident is stabilized.
Systems
that provide detailed scene and incident information are needed to
quickly detect and alert appropriate recovery organizations so that
the nearest appropriate resources can be dispatched. Also, traffic
routing options need to be prepared for critical roads and highways.
Future
of the ITS Public Safety Program
The ITS Public Safety Program has a vision that presents a basic philosophy
and approach that will steer the development of the program. Having
laid out this broad plan, the steering group is turning to the next
priorities - building support and participation from the public safety
and transportation constituencies and defining further technical details
to guide technology development, demonstration, and implementation.
In fiscal
year 2001, the group will be seeking input on the vision through national
meetings and technical forums. As consensus builds around specific
technical aspects, these concepts will be incorporated into the federal
ITS Public Safety Program. Federal support will be directed toward
operational tests and evaluation and towards funding implementation
through the state and local ITS infrastructure.
This
year, the ITS Public Safety Program will begin two field operational
tests, incorporating the vision of the program and the NMRI guidelines.
The first operational test will be expanding an existing project,
the Integrated Incident Management System (IIMS), in New York City.
IIMS, in essence, uses first-responder technology to enhance the secondary
response. Computers with GIS maps, together with digital cameras,
will be placed in 25 police vehicles, enabling the primary responders
to an incident, who are most often the police, to exchange information
about the scene quickly and efficiently to the second-responder community,
including public works agencies and DOTs that need to bring equipment
to clean up and manage the scene.
The second
operational test will incorporate the NMRI recommendations into a
mayday system that will demonstrate effective voice and data interfaces
between private-sector call centers (such as OnStar) and PSAPs. This
test will demonstrate and evaluate communication approaches that allow
telematic service providers to directly access emergency (9-1-1) operators.
To facilitate
outreach and feedback, the program will also support the establishment
of public safety liaison groups for fire, EMS, law enforcement, traffic
management, and emergency communications personnel. These liaison
groups will bring together representatives of the range of constituents
in each of these fields. Each liaison group will be a focal point
for disseminating information about the ITS Public Safety Program
and gathering feedback on program direction.
Through
the field tests and outreach efforts, the ITS Public Safety Program
is trying to form a public safety coalition that will speak with one
voice, enabling the united public safety community to compete for
its share of funding opportunities.
Over
the next couple of years, through the field operational tests and
the gathering of input from technical forums and national meetings,
the participants in the ITS Public Safety Program hope to realize
their vision of a united network of public safety agencies working
hand in hand with the transportation community to exchange information
and to increase transportation safety and efficiency.
William
Baker works in the ITS Joint Program Office and is the ITS Public
Safety Program coordinator.
Melissa
A. Winn is assistant editor of Public Roads and is employed by
Avalon Integrated Services Corp. of Arlington, Va.
Other
Articles in this Issue:
5-1-1: Traffic Help May Soon Be Three Digits Away
Using
the Dynamic Modulus Test to Assess the Mix Strength of HMA
The
ITS Public Safety Program: Creating a Public Safety Coalition
Handling
the Worst Crash Ever in Virginia
Moving
Ahead - The American Public Speaks on Roadways and Transportation
in Communities
Branding America's Byways
Travelers
Seek Byway Experiences
National
Work-Zone Awareness Week Commemorated Across the Nation
Work-Zone
Traffic Control: Survey of Contracting Techniques