The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) has launched a trial of automation of traffic lights to allow ambulances, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles to skip the traffic.

Turkey’s most populated city, of more than 15 million people, is notorious for its traffic, one of the worst in the world. Though emergency lanes allow faster travel for emergency vehicles, response times in inner parts of the city are hindered by frustrating snarls.

The municipality officials demonstrated the traffic light scheme in the city’s Fatih district, where even non-emergency vehicles are stuck in traffic on narrow streets. Through sensors on traffic lights and emergency vehicles, lights turn green without disrupting the traffic. On Monday’s demonstration, the red light turned green just as a fire truck approached it from some 400 meters.

The project is developed by ISBAK, a subsidiary of the municipality that specializes in telecommunications and smart city technologies. It uses a vehicle-to-everything or V2X communication system that connects any vehicle with any entity with suitable connection devices. Devices are based on wireless communication and cellular systems. Emine Aygün, an official from ISBAK, told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Monday that V2X technology is commonly used in smart transportation technologies in the world and they were integrated into the Istanbul traffic system for emergency vehicles, to prioritize them and to give them the right of way. "It will help them, especially in intersections, minimizing delays," she said. "We chose Fatih because the road we tested it is among the most used routes by fire trucks. Every vehicle is fitted with a device communicating with another installed on the roadside. The roadside system in turn, communicates with the automated traffic light system, changing lights for emergency vehicles," she explained. As the light goes green, it turns red for other vehicles in other directions of the intersection, eliminating the risk of accidents.

Serkan Çolak, a firefighter who tested the system, said it will save them "a lot of time." "Traffic often turns into chaos when other drivers strive to give way to our trucks. So, it takes us more time to reach the scene of a fire," he said. Abdullah Tosun, another firefighter, said they occasionally encountered accidents as people tried to clear the way for them. "We have right of way but it turns into a disadvantage for us. This will prevent such cases," he said.