HAAS Alert - Experts & Thought Leaders

In Franklin, users will find more than lights and sirens any time an emergency crew gets close. Users may notice a new alert pop up in GPS. It’s new technology meant to make the roads safer for drivers and first responders. Safety Cloud® “When they are responding, that’s when the notification goes out to the motorist, about a 30-second heads up to whenever we would be seen,” explained Daniel Donegan, a fire analyst with the Franklin Fire Department. It’s called Safety Cloud® and it warns drivers when an emergency vehicle is approaching. It will notify a driver within a 30-second radius that they need to slow down or move over for a nearby emergency vehicle. early warning State law requires drivers to slow down or move over for emergency and utility service vehicles “We see it every day with vehicles across the country and across the state where they are striking the back of these vehicles, so hopefully this earlier warning will help give other motorists the time to move over,” explained Donegan. State law requires drivers to slow down or move over for emergency and utility service vehicles, but that doesn’t always happen. The fire department saw it first hand in 2017 when one of its trucks was struck while working a crash on I-65. Fast response Fast forward to 2023, and the Franklin Fire Department responded to more than 11,000 calls; nearly 600 of them were for motor vehicle crashes. “We are oftentimes working in the roadway. If not, our vehicles are at least stopped in the roadway. So moving over gives us room and space to do our jobs and hopefully does not create another incident on that scene,” Donegan said. The department explained many people don’t hear the trucks coming, and when you combine that with distracted driving, it can become a huge challenge. Extra alert The fire department responds to thousands of calls by reducing the risk of collision, the quicker they can respond “Everyone is just so busy. Everyone is on their devices and they’re just not always paying attention to their surroundings. They are paying attention to what’s in front of them and where they are going, so this gives them the ability to, hopefully, give them that extra alert to keep themselves and our responders safe,” Donegan explained. They are also hoping the technology will improve response times. The fire department responds to thousands of calls every year; by reducing the risk of collision, the quicker they can respond to an emergency. reducing response times “Our average response time is just over five minutes here in the City of Franklin. If we can reduce that time, it helps save lives in the back end. So by this software allowing the motorist to have a heads up, hopefully, we’re not having to slow down as much to have to get close to the motorists to have them move over for us,” said Donegan. The system went operational in select trucks last week, and the fire department said it’s already working, with people slowing down and moving over before they reach crews on the road.

Now, it's not only lights and sirens that will tell a driver if an emergency vehicle is inbound. Despite the law requiring drivers to pull off to the side of the street if an ambulance or fire engine is inbound, not everyone follows the rules. With new technology that can notify a motorist automatically, cities like Troy are hoping to make their emergency runs safe for both the first responders and those on the road. Offering better solution ‘It’ is HAAS Alert, a tech start-up. The company started in 2015 with just three employees. Young said the department's epiphany came after HAAS Alert caught their eye at a booth at the Detroit Auto Show. For the operator of a large fire rig traveling at high speeds down a busy road, their services offered a better solution than guessing driver behavior. "Everyone reacts differently when the trucks are responding," Young said. "We have the person who pulls to the left in the middle turn lane and then you have the guy who goes to the right and then you have the vehicles that just stop." Large fire rig traveling HAAS Alert got started after the company's founder was almost struck by an emergency vehicle HAAS Alert got started after the company's founder was almost struck by an emergency vehicle. According to one of the company's heads, the near-miss came with a realization: "There has got to be a better way to know when an emergency vehicle is approaching," said Ted Serbinski with HAAS Alert. "Lights and sirens only go so far, but digital alerting can go much farther," he said. The technology works by using existing cell towers and merging them with the technology used in vehicles manufactured after 2018. The idea is to leverage that infrastructure to inform drivers in a safe way of where exactly an emergency vehicle is in relation to their own automobile. First-line apparatus "When you're in a fire truck and you turn on so the lights go on, the siren goes on. The alert automatically goes out to vehicles in the vicinity," said Serbinski. "It came to us two years ago. It was a no-brainer for us to start implementing it in all of our first-line apparatus and then all of our staff vehicles as well," said Lt. Keith Young with the Troy Fire Department. HAAS has partnered to make the alert service standard in all new Stellantis vehicles So far, HAAS has partnered to make the alert service standard in all new Stellantis vehicles. It also works with those that use the Waze navigation app on their phone. "What that allows us to do is alert those drivers way before we get to those vehicles, so the lights and sirens - you might not even hear those or see them yet, so this alerts them with a distance that they're able to react without us being involved," said Young. New emergency vehicles Serbinski also said they're standard in new emergency vehicles that are ‘made at the OEM level.’ The alert system can also be retrofitted into existing vehicles. "In terms of the impact, it's exponential," Serbinski said. "It can send an alert miles in advance." The cost for the service is subscription-based and is on the city to pay for it. According to HAAS Alert, that breaks down to about $42 per vehicle per month.

Two Texas Panhandle fire departments are implementing a new alert system to prevent collisions and improve road safety. Drivers encounter all sorts of hazards on the road that they are supposed to slow down and move over for, such as emergency vehicles and work zones. If an emergency vehicle is in route, the HAAS Alert. Safety Cloud system alerts drivers to slow down or move over. This year, both the Dalhart Fire Department and Hartley Fire and EMS have added this system to their daily operations. HAAS Alert System The HAAS Alert System is easy to install and sits right on top of the dash of an emergency vehicle “Anything that’s going to help us be safe, not only just us as first responders, but everyone in the community, anybody on the road, that’s a benefit and that’s going to help everyone,” said Mario Garcia, fire chief for Dalhart Fire Department. The HAAS Alert System is easy to install and sits right on top of the dash of an emergency vehicle. When first responders activate emergency lights, a signal is sent out to drivers on the road through an app called Waze or technology associated with their vehicle. Safety Cloud System “We’re now working directly with automakers. So if you are driving a 2018 or newer Jeep, Dodge, Ram or Chrysler vehicle, you can now get those alerts directly in the dash of your vehicle,” said Brock Aun, vice president of communications for HAAS Alert. Another benefit to the system is helping those with impaired hearing. “You know, a lot of people driving down the highway now, they are either hearing impaired or they have their radio up. We come up behind people all the time, sirens blaring, but they still don’t move over because they don’t hear us,” said Scott White, fire chief for Hartley Fire and EMS. HAAS Alert says the Safety Cloud system reduces the risk of collision by up to 90%.