In Japan, the police, responsible for managing the road traffic, work to address traffic accidents, traffic congestion, pollution and various problems arising from road traffic by using various management techniques of traffic regulations and control. The Patrol Car Dispatch Support System was developed by the National Police Agency to support the dispatch of emergency vehicles, and installed in 2001 in Koto-ku, Tokyo. The Metropolitan Police Department links this Patrol Car Dispatch Support System to the existing traffic control systems. When information on dispatch of an emergency vehicle is transmitted from the Patrol Car Dispatch Support System and other systems, the Traffic Control System will operate to control the state of signals to give priority to the route taken by the emergency vehicle. The following sections describe how the priority control of signals and other functions work in this system.
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