Originally reported by Juan Cisneros at WIBW.

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) -- With more than 40 million drivers hitting the road on this long weekend some new technology could help prevent accidents.
Through an app on your phone, Haas Alert is notifying drivers throughout Kansas when emergency response vehicles are nearby.

The Kansas Department of Transportation equipped 19 of its vehicles with the capability to send nearby drivers alerts when they turn on their emergency lights.

The HAAS Alert system uses Waze to send the notifications.

"Our goal is to give the driver an advanced preemptive alert or warning that something hazardous is up ahead,” Jeremy Agulnek, Vice President of Connected Car, said. “We know from some third party research that giving drivers this type of advanced alert we've seen a 90 percent reduction in the risk of collision."

This type of alert system is live across the country and you don't need a Waze capable vehicle to receive the alerts.

"It doesn’t matter how old your car is, as long as you have a mobile phone, you can get the Waze application on that,” Agulnek said.

HAAS Alert’s collision prevention system aims to limit distracted driving when emergency vehicles are around which is a problem nationwide and not just in Kansas.

"Anywhere where there's decent to high volumes of vehicles on the roadway and there's at-risk roadway users like DOT's and emergency response folks,” Agulnek said. “Our system is perfectly designed for that. The distracted driver is a national epidemic it’s not specific to one city or another."

As long as you have the Waze app, the alerts will automatically come to your phone.

The app is free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.