FCC URGED TO DISMISS EMERGENCY VEHICLE ALERT RADIO DEVICE
The NAB urged the FCC to require Alert Devices International Corp. to immediately cease manufacturing and selling an unlicensed emergency vehicle signally service over the Internet and conclude that the transmitter service is flawed.
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Alert Devices filed a petition for rulemaking with the FCC on the transmitter, which is designed to alert motorists over broadcast radio bands that an emergency vehicle is approaching, overriding the broadcast signal being received by the driver. Alert Devices allegedly is selling the device “without any apparent mechanism to control purchasers of equipment that jams broadcast signals, and in clear violation of Part 15 of the Commission’s Rules,” NAB said in comments to the FCC. A visit to Alert Devices Web site Feb. 18 showed the company still advertising the transmitter and selling it for $985. The FCC seeks reply comments by March 3. Alert Devices attorney Frank Jazzo advised the company to post a disclaimer on the Web site that the product isn’t available for sale in the U.S., pending FCC approval. The devise is being sold in Canada, Jazzo said.
The concept isn’t a new one. Two other companies, Alertcast Communications and Safety Cast, proposed such services but were not granted permission to operate. Alert Devices’ transmitter is speed sensitive, so the higher a vehicle’s speed the farther the warning message is projected. The device is designed to deactivate during an emergency alert system message. The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials and several law enforcement officials filed comments to the FCC in support of the device. In its petition, Alert Devices asserted that in 2 years, 101 people died in collisions with emergency vehicle that had lights flashing and sirens activated: “The conclusion is inescapable: Lights and sirens do not provide adequate warning.”
While NAB and the Society of Bcst. Engineers (SBE), applauded Alert Devices efforts to avoid such fatalities, “that end does not justify a flawed means,” SBE said in its comments. Both groups said there were technical flaws in Alert Devices proposals including: (1) Alert Devices presumes that most vehicles will have a broadcast system. (2) The company presumes a driver is not playing a CD or audio cassette, or tuned to an in-band on-channel signal or a satellite radio signal. (3) It doesn’t take into account foreign language radio stations. (4) It ignores jamming signals due to multiple emergency vehicles responding in heavily populated cities. NAB claimed there’s no record from which the FCC could conclude that transmitting radio warning signals “will override all other motorist behavioral tendencies and reduce the number of collisions.”