What are emergency vehicle detectors? Are they cameras?
A 29: Emergency vehicle detectors are often mistaken for cameras, because they look similar. However, these are not cameras, but are special electronic devices that are used to detect the presence of emergency response vehicles such as fire trucks, paramedics and police vehicles. These detectors are usually attached to the top of the signal housings. They sense specialized light emitted from emergency vehicles when they are responding to an emergency. Once an emergency vehicle is detected, the detector sends a signal to the intersection control equipment. When this happens, the signals for any conflicting vehicles are turned to yellow and then red. Then the signals that serve the emergency vehicle are changed to green. This reduces response times for emergency vehicles and may reduce accidents by stopping other vehicles when emergency vehicles are passing through an intersection.
