YORK COUNTY, Pa. — When firefighters are called to accidents on I-83 in southern York County, they're faced with a choice if the caller doesn’t know exactly where they are located.
“[We have to choose] to go north or south," said Brad Dauberman, chief of the Shrewsbury Volunteer Fire Company. "If the information is wrong, it costs us four miles to go to the next exit and four miles to come back. In a fire truck, we’re looking at about ten minutes.”
That’s exactly what Dauberman says happens sometimes.
New Year’s Eve was the latest incident.
“We were told the accident was just north where we get on 83, and it ended up being just south," he explained. "So it took us 13 to 14 minutes to get to the accident scene when it should have taken us three or four."
Because of this, his department and other first responders want to see markers placed closer together—every one-tenth or two-tenths of a mile as they are on the northern part of the interstate.
“If somebody is in an accident, medical emergency, or even someone has broken down calling for a tow truck or police, they’ll know exactly where they’re at and when 911 passes that information on, local responders will know which two exits that’s between," said Dauberman.
The good news is PennDOT says it’s in the works.
“We’re constantly looking at what we can do to improve safety and communications along our state roads," said Fritzi Schreffler, safety press officer for PennDOT District 8. "This is something that was in the plan, we ordered them, it’s just a matter of the backlog”
When the 200+ new signs come in, they’ll be placed every two-tenths of a mile through the southern part of I-83, all the way to the state line.
“We have just started getting in comments from the locals letting us know they really want these but we can’t force them to get here any time sooner than what the delivery is going to be," explained Schreffler.
Dauberman said his department has been asking for the signs for years and just wants to see action.
“Everyone is getting responses that they’re being ordered, they’re being replaced but we’re just waiting to see it because every day that goes by we have another incident," he said.
In York County, 911 dispatchers can identify a caller's cell phone location and relay that information to first responders but the caveat is the technology depends on cell phone service, which can be spotty in the southern half of the county.
PennDOT does not have a timeline for when the new mile marker signs will be delivered, but whenever they are, Schreffler said they will be installed immediately.
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