08-09-2006 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Blesener & Members of the City Council FROM: Joel Hanson, City Administrator DATE: October 21, 2005 RE: Installation of Additional Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) Devices Attached is a report prepared by Lieutenant Mike Salter of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department discussing the need for additional EVP's at a number of intersections throughout suburban Ramsey County. He prepared the listing and cost estimates in conjunction with Dan Soler, Traffic Engineer for Ramsey County Public Works. EVP's are the devices that allow public safety vehicles to change the timing of traffic signals to allow more rapid emergency response to calls. EVP's have been installed on the majority of signaled intersections within Little Canada. Initial EVP installation was driven by the needs of fire departments, but law enforcement has also come to depend on them. (Note: The proposed locations will not be of benefit to the fire department for responding to calls given their location.) The Sheriff's Department feels there are intersections that need to have EVP's added to allow better response movements and to improve the chances that a motor vehicle will yield the right - of -way to an officer responding with lights and siren. There have been numerous instances where motorists did not yield to squad cars. While most of these end up being "near misses" from an accident standpoint, a few have resulted on collisions. As a result, serious risk to personal safety (both the officer and the violating motorist) and property occurs. In fact, in 2005, two accidents have resulted. Serious personal injury resulted to the "other" motorists and both squads were totaled. This has contributed to the contract group's insurance through the Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust being cancelled and will result in higher a cost for coverage going forward. Therefore, the Sheriff's Department is recommending we install EVP's at the listed intersections. Staff recommends we authorize the installation of the Tier I EVP's as an Infrastructure Replacement Fund expenditure to ultimately be paid from Municipal State Aid (MSA) proceeds. Tiers II and III should also be authorized, subject to the majority of other contract jurisdictions doing likewise. cc: Lt. Salter, RCSD Dan Soler, RCPW 2-