BENGALURU: While Bengaluru traffic police had planned to facilitate smooth passage for ambulances, which are often seen stuck in traffic and struggling to ferry patients, by introducing ASTraM (Actionable Intelligence for Sustainable Traffic Management), the challenges the traffic police face in implementing it have not yielded expected results.
Bengaluru’s traffic congestion poses a significant challenge for ambulance drivers, especially during emergencies. To address this, traffic police had introduced the ASTraM application nine months ago, aiming to ease the movement of ambulances across the city. However, only 250 ambulance drivers have registered for the application so far.
The ASTraM app is designed to tackle congestion issues in the city. One of its features is the ability to track ambulance movements in real-time. The app enables the control room to monitor registered ambulances from their origin to destination. It alerts the control room if an ambulance is stuck in traffic for more than 120 seconds and provides drivers with updates on the shortest routes and traffic conditions. The app also features an SOS button for urgent interventions.
Explaining the challenges faced by the traffic police, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) MN Anucheth told TNIE that prioritising ambulances near hospitals is a difficult task. “For instance, about 25 ambulances pass every two hours at KC General hospital in Malleswaram.
In such cases, it is difficult to create easy passage for all ambulances as there is no information on the condition of patients they will be carrying. We can’t prioritise and act. As there is frequent movement of ambulances around hospitals, it is difficult to facilitate easy movement for them all the time. It has to be worked out in such a way that it doesn’t affect the general traffic.”
Further, he said that ambulances approaching a particular junction from various directions also pose a challenge, as making way for one vehicle may lead to traffic gridlock, affecting the movement of another.
Another senior officer said city traffic police are using multiple technologies, but unless common technology is adopted, it will be difficult to ease the movement of ambulances. If every ambulance is linked to the same application, it would be better. He added that there are over 2,500 ambulances in the city.