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WHY USE DIRECTIONAL SIRENS

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  -  DIRECTIONAL SIRENS WILL IMPROVE RESPONSE TIMES  -

-  DIRECTIONAL SIRENS WILL REDUCE ACCIDENTS  -

-  NOISE LEVELS INSIDE THE VEHICLE WILL BE REDUCED  -

-  LESS STRESS FOR PERSONNEL  -

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Directional sirens are needed because motorists throughout the world have difficulty locating the direction
of approaching emergency service vehicles by listening to the sounds made by sirens currently in use. 
This results in delaying emergency vehicles getting to the situation.


Many accidents involving emergency vehicles and motorists occur, usually at junctions,
often causing serious injuries and fatalities. Directional sirens will reduce the number of collisions.

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DIRECTIONAL SIRENS WILL IMPROVE RESPONSE TIMES 

"Quadrasonic™ directional sirens use a unique advanced computer controlled acoustic technology which enables motorists to judge the distance and direction of approaching Emergency Service Vehicles"

Motorists can then take appropriate action without panicking allowing emergency vehicles to proceed unhindered.

Since 2008 response times throughout the United Kingdom have increased. There are a number of reasons for this including a psychological reaction to sounds called 'blanking'   When people first hear a sound they become aware of it and decide whether it has any relevance to them and whether they should take any action. If it continues for a period of time and doesn't seem to require any action, then the human psychoacoustic system will turn off the alert reaction and ignore the sound.

Electronic sirens have a long range and are heard by motorists many times even when emergency vehicles  are not behind them.  This programs the human psychoacoustic system to ignore the sirens because it has heard them so many times before without needing to take action.  Many people now say "If I hear any sirens nowdays I ignore them - I don't bother moving until I see the blue lights"  This makes the current sirens effectively useless as an advance warning system.

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DIRECTIONAL SIRENS WILL REDUCE ACCIDENTS

"In the UK, Europe and USA there are around 25,115 serious injuries and 2,730 fatalities every 5 years involving emergency service vehicles and members of the public"  


Most of these accidents occur at crossroads and junctions.  
We believe they are caused, at least in a large part, because the current sirens have a narrow beam which mainly projects forward and is difficult to hear when motorists are approaching from the side. 

We don't like to focus on this aspect as we know that emergency vehicle drivers are well trained and highly skilled. 
Some of the videos clearly show that the crashes could not be avoided by the emergency vehicle drivers.


 While there are a number of factors contributing to these collisions, we believe that many are a direct result of the public not hearing the current sirens in time to take avoiding action. 


The following links demonstrate how all emergency services suffer from this problem.  


These videos might be shocking to some, especially members of the public, but they do show the dangers that emergency services' personnel face every day.

Click links to see video reports:
•  ambulance crash - dashcam footage
•  fire truck crash - news report
•  police crash at junction - news report
•  near miss at junction - fire truck

Initial impact at junction

Secondary impact

Ambulance crashes average four times a day - click image for full article

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The personal and financial costs to the Fire and Rescue Services and members of the public could be reduced by fitting Quadrasonic™ Directional Sirens

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improved noise levels

NOISE LEVELS INSIDE THE VEHICLE CAB WILL BE REDUCED

The current noise levels inside the cab distract the driver. This makes radio and verbal communications more difficult, affecting the health and safety of both personnel and the public.

One UK Fire Brigade had 1,194 personnel taking sick leave over the past 10 years due to hearing problems
That equates to over 2% of their personnel unable to do their job because of damaged hearing probably caused by the sirens in current use.  One manufacturer of sirens has been successfully sued by hundreds of firefighters because of hearing damage caused by sirens.

Research has shown that the shape of the sound waves and their frequency are believed to be contributory factors in causing hearing problems, especially with repeated exposure over long periods.  See the Health and Safety page on this website for details.

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WHY FIT DIRECTIONAL SIRENS

Because fitting directional sirens benefits both the public and the Emergency Services.  It is a cost effective solution to improving response times, improving radio and verbal communications and reducing accidents. Directional sirens will improve the health and safety of the public and frontline personnel and generate large cost savings

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Fitting Quadrasonic™ Sirens will save money, reduces driver stress, improve response times
prevent injuries and save lives

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EMERGENCY SERVICE PERSONNEL DO A DANGEROUS JOB
THEY DESERVE THE SAFEST EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE

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