Invention Could Save Motorists from Emergency Vehicles

When Bill Spann was driving home from work one day in 1998, he was enjoying jazz music too much to hear the fire truck behind him. In a panic, he instinctively put on the brake. No one got hurt, but the frightening near-miss prompted him to develop a device that would warn drivers of approaching emergency vehicles.

According to the Wilton Fire Protection District, more than 1,000 firefighters are injured and almost 50 people are killed as a result of collisions each year in the U.S. In an article on the Daily Bulletin website, Diana Sholley says Spann’s technology is a simple black box, to be installed by automakers, that detects a single frequency which causes it to turn on a light. The device detects a siren even when the driver can’t hear it.

“This device saves lives by giving people enough time to react,” Spann told Sholley. “Cars today have a quiet ride, but even if the music’s too loud, with this there’s no excuse not to know when an emergency vehicle is coming your way.”

The product is Blue Light Tronics ‘HEAARS’ (HiEarly Alert Audio Response). A computer chip fitted with software “about the size of a quarter” fits into a casing meant to be mounted outside the vehicle at the manufacturing stage. Spann is waiting to hear back from automakers and is confident this is “the right thing to do.”

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http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_13046543