O'FALLON, Mo. — A new road safety software was showcased Tuesday morning on Hughes Boulevard in O'Fallon, Missouri.
5 On Your Side's reporter Justina Coronel went along for the ride to follow the app in real-time.
It's called the MakeWay Safety Technologies.
Founder and partner, Mike Walsh, said, "We have a dedicated device hard wired into the light and siren system. It begins to send a push notification and it's hunting cell phones or connected cars in the path with the emergency vehicle. You'll get the message that there's an emergency vehicle responding to your left or right."
At the presentation Tuesday morning, reporters used an app that alerted the driver whenever a police officer drove by with their lights or sirens.
The alert pushed through the phone and a voice said, "WARNING: Makeway has detected emergency vehicle nearby. Please proceed with caution."
Walsh said this gives drivers the ability to take action to avoid collisions.
Six agencies are a part of the trial run.
Each department involved has five units with the device.
This includes:
- St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
- St. Louis Fire Department
- St. Louis County Police Department
- St. Charles County Police Department
- Jefferson County Sheriff's Department
- Eureka Fire Department
- Kirkwood Fire Department
Grant Bissell with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department said, "They chose different types of environments to put this out in. Jefferson County, the north end is suburban. You have Arnold, High Ridge, Fenton where those more traffic and there's the other end, where it’s very rural. It gives it a good dynamic test range."
The developers have been testing this alerting platform for about four to five years.
Walsh said this software hits close to home.
"It is all St. Louis-based. All of our team is from St. Louis, it's developed and tested in St. Louis," Walsh points out.
Walsh even has a personal connection. His niece is a police officer in the area.
"My niece in the city was T-boned at an intersection when she was in an emergency responding condition. The car flipped and totaled. For several months, she was on disability. She's better now, but this is a problem," Walsh said.
This device aims to guard both first responders and the drivers.
"I think this all initiated because of the police pursuits but it's also going to be great for officer safety, and when we have someone on the side of the road and tell that driver, we're ahead, " said Tracy Panus with the St. Louis County Police Department.
Walsh and developers are working to make this product a protector.
"To bring some technology that we believe will enhance your life safety," Walsh said.
The developers want to embed this technology into cell phones, cars, or a third-party application, so drivers don't have to launch an app every time they drive.
The trial will finish at the end of July.
From there, developers will take 30 to 40 days dissecting the data from multiple departments and make modifications.
Walsh hopes they deploy it by Jan. 1, 2024.