Department of Transportation

Although emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances are granted priority road access and are not restricted by traffic signals during operations, they still face difficulties navigating congested roads and are at risk of accidents.

To address this, Taipei City Traffic Engineering Office collaborated with the Fire Department to use GPS data from ambulances and fire trucks as input for an emergency vehicle priority signal control system. In 2024, the city completed the installation of this system on 29 heavily congested and traffic-sensitive road segments, covering major medical institutions and enabling prioritized access for emergency vehicles citywide.

The system calculates and adjusts downstream green and red light durations beforehand to facilitate emergency vehicle passage. According to performance evaluations, the system supports approximately 3,000 emergency trips per month, reducing travel time by an average of 42 seconds per trip. This gain in critical “golden rescue” time, along with a 62.5% decrease in ambulance-related intersection accidents, significantly enhances traffic safety.

2025-03-27