The Importance of Message Boards In Emergency Vehicles

Did you know that the first police car was a wagon run by electricity in 1899? This vehicle could travel 48 km before its battery ran out and needed to be recharged. But even in that era, the car was equipped with accessories such as electric lights, gongs, and a stretcher! Well, police cars and other emergency vehicles have evolved a lot since then. Fleets of emergency response/utility vehicles can now be customized and adapted as per a team’s requirement, to include standard and specific equipment such as emergency vehicle consoles, siren speakers, light and siren control systems, flasher and light modules, and laptop mounts, radios, plate readers, speed radars, etc. among other useful equipment. One such useful add-on includes the D&R Message Board/Lightbar. 

The Use of Message Boards

The D&R Message Board/Lightbar which can be mounted on top of an emergency/utility vehicle (Car, SUV, Truck) is a lightbar with a built-in traffic director and a hidden message board that rises up from the lightbar. This can be used not only to alert but to clearly communicate instructions to the motorists and pedestrians at the site of the emergency. The traffic director controls the flow of traffic, and the clear instructions on the message board provide the necessary control of the scene to avoid traffic congestions and/or further mishaps from uncertain drivers. 

The message board can effectively take control of the scene by using clear verbal instructions and alerts. The display can be used to specify an alternate route. Be it in an emergency incident or hazardous road conditions or other causes, a message board installed on top of a first responder’s vehicle could prove to be a useful tool. 

Salient Features of D&R Message Boards

D&R Message boards can be an asset to first responder vehicles.

Features include:

Message board folds into the lightbar when not in use improving aerodynamics and reducing drag. The MS6024 opens up automatically when a message is sent to the display. The message can be presented in two font sizes. Depending on font size, the message can have one or two lines. The display text can be static (fixed) or can keep scrolling. The board uses LED lights for the display. 

D&R Message Board MS6024 Specs

Message Display:

Size:

• 60” x 24” 

• 768 pixels, 4 LED’s per pixels 

Regular Font: 

• 2 lines of 10“ characters, 

• 8 characters per line

Large Font: 

• 1 line of 24” characters, 

• 4 characters per line 

Legibility better than 1000’

Viewing Angle: 30° 

Display Board automatically opens up when powered on, and closes when powered off.

Chassis:

Frame Size: 29” x 69” x 9” 

Chassis Construction: Aluminum 

Chassis Finish: Powder Coat 

Chassis Color: Flat Black Face, Balance White

Touchpad/Controller Features:

Dimmer Control, Automatic or Manual 

Programmable Font: lower/uppercase lettering with use of shift button. 

48-ButtonKeyboard: letters, numbers/characters, space, shift, delete, and special character indicators

LED Display Screen on Touchpad

D&R Electronics Co. Ltd. specializes in Electronics, Metal, 3D printed plastic solutions for the first responder and utility market since 1976. To learn more visit us at LED beacons | D&R Electronics (dandrelectronics.com) or join us on social media at