SANTA ROSA BEACH, Fla. — South Walton-area motorists who utilize a navigation app or system during their drive now receive advance-warning alerts from South Walton Fire District apparatus responding to emergencies. These Safety Cloud alerts aim to better protect motorists and first responders, as well as assist in improving emergency response times, by giving drivers more time to safely comply with Florida’s Move Over Law. This law requires motorists to slow down and move over for emergency vehicles with activated signals.

The Safety Cloud system alerts drivers who are actively using Waze, Apple Maps, Google Maps, vehicles equipped with Ford’s Blue Oval Intelligence system and any Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram vehicles. Motorists using any of the methods listed will receive a hands-free alert that notifies them of an approaching SWFD emergency vehicle or scene.

Safety Cloud developers have stated they are working to add new vehicles and navigation apps onto the platform to increase the number of people receiving alerts.

In March 2023, the HAAS Alert system alerted 4,405 total drivers about 307 incidents involving a responding SWFD apparatus.

SWFD would like to remind motorists to obey all traffic laws while slowing down and moving over for responding emergency vehicles. Also, motorists should ensure that all emergency vehicles have passed before pulling back into the flow of traffic.