To all those Canberra drivers not paying attention: prepare to be "rumbled".
As the most advanced fire truck in the southern hemisphere prepares to hit the road in Canberra, it carries with a new device designed to get the attention of anyone in its path - by vibrating their bodies.
The new $1.5 million Rosenbauer electric hybrid fire truck is equipped with an inbuilt Rumbler which emits "low-frequency tones" which can penetrate solid materials - such as the bodywork of a car in front - "allowing vehicle operators and nearby pedestrians to feel the sound waves", says the manufacturer.
It seems almost inconceivable but firefighters are increasingly concerned about the issue of going undetected on the road by motorists and pedestrians, hampering the rapid, unhindered progress their trucks need to reach potentially life-threatening emergencies.
A key issue for all emergency vehicles is that new noise-cancelling audio devices and vehicle acoustic damping technologies have become so effective that many road users, from pedestrians dawdling along, looking down at their phones, to motorists driving high-end luxury cars simply don't notice - or are not paying enough attention.
Enter the Rumbler, a device developed in the US by Federal Signal, which specialises in emergency lights, sirens and even road spikes.
"You could well assume that a massive 15-tonne yellow fire truck with flashing emergency lights and sirens would be highly visible but I can assure, that's not always the case," ACT Chief Fire Officer Matt Mavity said.
"It's an increasing problem for all emergency vehicles; the double glazing on some cars is so good now that you can hardly hear anything outside the car.
"People are wearing earbuds and talking on their phones, they are using noise-cancelling headphones; there's so many things which are taking people's attention away from what's happening around them."
Like all fire trucks, the new Austrian-built super-pumper recently delivered to the Emergency Services Agency has a multi-tone siren system on the steering wheel.
The driver simply has to press the horn pad and the siren tone changes from a "woop-woop" to a "bee-baa" to a wail that would rattle windows.
And it's LOUD; or at least seems more so at close proximity than the ESA's conventional fire pumpers.
However, if that doesn't clear the road ahead, then a switch on the dashboard activates the Rumbler which then amplifies the sound through a pair of high-output subwoofers underneath the fire truck's front bumper.
It's claimed to increase the "sound pressure inside civilian vehicles" by up to 10 decibels and be particularly effective in "dense urban environments with heavy vehicle traffic".
It's like being too close to the speaker stack at an AC/DC concert, with the sound waves entering your solar plexus and setting it vibrating like snare drum.
The Rumbler is also of benefit to the sight-impaired. The new Rosenbauer pumper is electric, so it doesn't have the diesel engine noise of a conventional fire truck.
The quiet progress of electric vehicles - and their rapid uptake in the ACT this year - is of concern to Vision Australia and the Canberra Blind Society because the federal Transport department has been slow in mandating the same low speed (below 25kmh) acoustic warning system required on all EVs sold in the EU since 2019. Fortunately, most car manufacturers have fitted them anyway.
The ESA was so impressed with its newest Rumbler that it is now investigating fitting them to more of its fire pumpers.
You have been warned.
