The Role and Functions of Police Siren

The role of police sirens is critical in alerting pedestrians and people on the road of the presence of a police vehicle. Indeed, it is not only to warn drivers on the road only but also people on the sidewalks too. For instance, a police vehicle might be in pursuit of a rogue car at high speed with the sound of the siren acting as an indication for people on the sidewalks not to get down on the main road.


The sound from a police siren speaker is often changed to get the maximum attention. Police officers generally use the “wail” sound when they are on the highway. Once they face heavy traffic at intersections or crowds, they switch to the “piercer” tone, so called because the sound pierces through the senses of people. The latest in police car sirens is the “howler” function which operates at low frequency and alerts drivers miles in front to move out of the way.

In a nutshell, then, police sirens are used in a wide range of circumstances. Their primary function is to inform people that an emergency vehicle is on their way. A police siren, when heard by criminals, acts as a deterrent to the crime. In case of traffic offenders and those over speeding, the blaring of sirens is an indication for the drivers to pull over when it is safe to do so. However, the most vital function of a police siren is to clear the way and ensure that officers get from point to point in the shortest possible time.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Does Traffic Signal Preemption work

Image
Traffic signal preemption is a system that prioritizes traffic flow as per requirements through manipulation of normal traffic lights. The most common reason is controlling traffic signals in the path of an emergency vehicle so that normal traffic is regulated and it has right of way. Traffic signals are also preempted to help public transportation quickly through intersections or for regulating traffic at railroad crossings to avoid collisions.   Traffic preemption systems can be categorized as follows. • Acoustic sensors – Acoustic sensors are linked to the preemption system where a specific pattern of wails or tweets from the siren of an emergency vehicle overrides the traffic signal. The advantage here is that such a system can be easily integrated into the existing traffic signals. • Radio signals – A radio-based signal in the short-range 900MHz band uses a directional signal from an emitter to preempt traffic signals. This radio signal is not blocked by lighting,
Read more

Various Aspects of Police Siren and their Uses

Image
There are a number of reasons why police siren is so critical for law enforcement. A police siren signals an approaching police car, indicating that help is at hand. It is also used to clear the road ahead when rushing to a call. Police sirens are also useful to indicate to a driver to pull over in case of any infringement of law. Emergency vehicles have different siren sounds so that the presence of a fire-truck, an ambulance or a police car can be distinguished by the people at large. If all emergency vehicles had the same siren, they would find it difficult to distinguish between each other’s sirens. This can lead to crashes which are sometimes referred to as a wash-out effect. There are two common sounds that emanate from a police siren box in the USA. One is the wail which is the traditional sound that also denotes the speed of the car. The other is the yelp that has an increasing and decreasing pitch, thereby catching the attention of the people at the site of an incident or
Read more

Traffic Lights – How they Work, Programs, Sensors

Image
Traffic lights are signaling devices installed at pedestrian crossings, road intersections or at any other points where the flow of traffic has to be regulated. Generally, a light stick has three parts – red on top, amber and green at the bottom. The red is for stop, the amber for caution and the green for go. A traffic light stick often has two lights mounted vertically and are seen at exit to fire stations or railway crossings when traffic has to be temporarily stopped without any fixed time duration. These flash white or amber when cross traffic is not expected and red when traffic has to be stopped for example to let a fire truck drive out of the station. There is another type of traffic light stick which is not installed at traffic intersections but handheld by police or other emergency agencies to control traffic. These are safety batons. The top half is encased in a transparent polycarbonate casing with an LED light in them. Such sticks are especially useful in a scene of a
Read more