Priority Based Traffic Pre-emption System for Medical Emergency Vehicles in Smart Cities

Over the years, traffic lights have been used to manage traffic at road intersections. Though relatively effective, the vehicular queues that build up at each intersection being managed by a traffic light and the subsequent delay thereof, could have adverse effects on medical emergency vehicles (EVs). Reports have shown that queues at traffic intersection can increase travel times of medical EVs by an average of 20%. This in many instances could mean the difference between life and death. Prioritizing EVs could be a potential solution to this challenge. In this paper, an Internet of Things based priority preemption model for EVs in smart cities is proposed. It leverages on sensors to dynamically track the EV’s location and speed, and adaptively adjusts the timing sequence of all traffic lights on the EV’s path. This ensures that the EV experiences little or no delay to and from its destination. Experimental results show that the proposed model has the potential to reduce travel delays experienced by medical EVs by up to 35%.