Yongin City Completes Traffic Signal System to 'Secure Golden Time' for Citizens' Lives

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Choi Ki-ho] Yongin Special City announced on the 2nd that measurements of the effectiveness of its recently established 'Wide-area Emergency Vehicle Priority Signal System' showed a 55% reduction in patient transport time.

The 'Wide-area Emergency Vehicle Priority Signal System' is an advanced signal control system that enables emergency vehicles responding across city and county boundaries in cases of major fires or critical situations to receive priority signals without stopping at red lights, allowing them to move swiftly to their destinations.

This project is recognized as the most important sector among the '2023 Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Construction Project' selected by Yongin City in a national competition by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Yongin Special City has established an emergency response system without constraints across municipal boundaries by constructing the 'Wide-area Emergency Vehicle Priority Signal System,' reflecting requests from local fire departments to expand the 'Emergency Vehicle Priority Signal System,' which had previously operated only within the region, to neighboring areas.

On July 30, Yongin Special City conducted a demonstration with Suwon City, police, and fire departments, setting up a scenario of transporting a patient from Yongin Gangnam Hospital to the Emergency Medical Center at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, located 6.6 kilometers away.

After measuring actual travel times by section and confirming the arrival time of emergency vehicles, the results showed that what previously took 16 minutes and 13 seconds before applying the priority signal system was reduced to 7 minutes and 20 seconds after system application—a 55% reduction.

The city plans to analyze the trial operation results on that day and complete preparations to further enhance system effectiveness. Once the 'Wide-area Emergency Vehicle Priority Signal System' standard specifications are finalized in September, the system will be applied from October.

Additionally, by October, the city will convert 400 existing offline signal controllers to online signals, and in consultation with police, will improve signal systems during rush hours and prepare to ensure smooth operation of the 'Wide-area Emergency Vehicle Priority Signal System.'

Hwang Jun-gi, Vice Mayor, who attended the demonstration, stated, "The construction of the wide-area emergency vehicle priority system will allow emergency vehicles moving across municipal boundaries during disasters such as major fires to secure golden time," and added, "There is significant meaning in the fact that critically ill patients can be quickly transported to nearby large hospitals with regional emergency medical centers established, thereby protecting precious lives."