LEON VALLEY, Texas - As a driver it doesn't take much to get confused or startled when you hear sirens and see flashing lights.

Sometimes you might even freeze up at an intersection and wonder what to do. However, a new program in Leon Valley could help both drivers and first responders.

"It's challenging to drive on Bandera road traffic anyway, now try driving a fire truck," said Leon Valley Fire Chief Luis Valdez.

Usually, Bandera Road is filled with heavy traffic and can be difficult for emergency vehicles to get through -- but not lately. 

Over the past couple weeks they've been installing and using a new program called Opticom Emergency Vehicle Preemption.

"They're now able to control the traffic lights and change those traffic lights to green and that improves our response times and (makes) responding to these emergencies a lot safer," Valdez said.

The emergency vehicle will transmit a GPS signal to those traffic lights. The way it works is a switch stays on 24/7 and activates when the lights and sirens go on. It deactivates when they go off.

"One of the most difficult parts of the job is just responding to the call, getting to the call," said Leon Valley firefighter Daniel Cano.

Cano has been a firefighter for five years. He's already noticing a difference.

"A lot of the guys have reported getting to the calls quicker, and not only to the calls, but getting patients to the hospital and being able to respond faster, so it's been great," Cano said.

It's been a $68,000 investment to have the system in place at nine intersections along Bandera. The chief says it's worth it already.

"To be honest this system is going to save lives, and if it saves one life, $68,000 is nothing. It's a drop in the bucket. We're very happy with the city investing in this technology," Valdez said.