Transformative legislation includes millions in federal grants to protect responders and public safety fleets with digital alerting

Chicago, IL, November 17, 2021 (Globe Newswire)  – The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law this week includes millions of dollars in federal funds for digital alerting technology to protect public safety fleets, establishing digital alerting as a critical safety technology for the country’s first responders and other roadway workers.

Digital alerts are real-time safety notifications delivered to motorists and vehicles through cellular-based technologies. Like emergency lights and sirens, digital alerts are designed to improve motorist awareness by giving drivers advanced warning of upcoming hazards so that they have more time to prevent collisions and safely comply with Move Over laws. 

The bipartisan bill makes digital alerting an eligible technology for grant funding to prevent roadside deaths. Enactment of this legislation means that state Departments of Transportation and Highway Safety Offices will be able to access federal funds to purchase and deploy digital alerting technology in public safety fleets to protect firefighters, police officers, and EMTs.  

The legislation calls on the Department of Transportation to provide grants to states to prevent death and injury from crashes involving motor vehicles striking other vehicles and individuals stopped at the roadside. In addition, the new law stipulates that states may apply for grant funding to purchase and deploy digital alert technology that is capable of receiving alerts regarding nearby first responders; and in the case of a motor vehicle that is used for emergency response activities, is capable of sending alerts to civilian drivers to protect first responders on the scene and en-route.  

HAAS Alert’s digital alerting platform Safety Cloud®, which launched in 2016 as the nation’s first-ever digital alerting service, enables public safety vehicles and other roadway assets to send and receive digital alerts. Safety Cloud alerts are received by drivers through navigation platforms and through the infotainment screens of connected vehicles. In addition, emergency vehicle manufacturers have made Safety Cloud a standard safety feature on new emergency vehicles, and international automaker Stellantis is now piloting direct integration of digital alerts in consumer vehicles. To date, Safety Cloud has processed over one billion driver alerts.

“As the company that pioneered digital alerting, we know how significant of a victory this is for road safety,” said HAAS Alert CEO Cory Hohs. “This legislation firmly establishes digital alerting as a critical component of modern transportation safety, and will ultimately equip life-saving technology into public safety and roadway vehicles nationwide. We want to thank Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), as well as Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17), for their hard work on this issue and their commitment to the safety of emergency responders in communities nationwide.”

To learn more about HAAS Alert and Safety Cloud, visit haasalert.com.

About HAAS Alert

HAAS Alert's mission is to build lifesaving mobility solutions to make vehicles and roads safer and smarter. Our vision is a connected, collision-free world where everyone gets home safely. HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud vehicle communication network delivers digital alerts from emergency responders, roadway fleets, and other transportation assets and hazards to nearby drivers, vehicles, and infrastructure. Visit haasalert.com.

# # #