A STUDY OF EMERGENCY VEHICLE AUDITORY WARNING SIGNALS

THE INCIDENCE OF ACCIDENTS INVOLVING EMERGENCY VEHICLES SUCH AS AMBULANCES, POLICE CARS, AND FIRE ENGINES WAS INVESTIGATED BY MEANS OF A NATIONAL SURVEY, AND A PROBLEM WAS FOUND TO EXIST. SURVEY DATA INDICATED THE NEED TO STUDY THE EFFECTIVENESS OF WARNING SIRENS OR OTHER AUDITORY SIGNALS COMMONLY USED ON SUCH VEHICLES. ACTUAL EXPERIMENTS WITH EMERGENCY VEHICLES EQUIPPPED WITH TYPICAL WARNING SIGNALS WERE CONDUCTED. RESULTS INDICATE THAT SUCH AUDITORY SIGNALS HAVE A VERY LIMITED EFFECTIVENESS IN TERMS OF THE RANGE AT WHICH THEY CAN BE HEARD, AND EVEN WHEN THEY ARE HEARD, THE DIRECTION OF APPROACH CAN BE CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED LESS THAN FIFTY PERCENT OF THE TIME. SUGGESTIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE SYSTEMS TO BE USED FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLES ARE EXAMINED. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Oklahoma, Norman

  660 Parrington Oval
  Norman, OK  United States  73019-0390
• Authors:
  • Purswell, J L
  • Aulwurm, H C
• Publication Date: 1971

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 32 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash rates; Emergency vehicles
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224204
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Nat Safety Council Safety Res Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 17 1973 12:00AM