Technology can be a life-saver, at times.
For emergency responders racing to a call it's potentially having the opposite effect.
Distracted pedestrians, whether because of their smartphone or headphones, are getting to close to the path of fire trucks, police cruisers and ambulances, forcing them to slow down when seconds matter.
"I have been experiencing it myself and I have been hearing from our members that are noticing with people having their smartphones, with having ear pieces on, that they're not paying attention. It's very difficult for them to sometimes proceed through intersections if they know someone doesn't see them. One of the things we do as training is that we want to make sure that we can see them looking at us. This way we know that they're aware we are coming."
Drivers are also causing problems because of noise cancellation inside newer vehicles.
Frank Ramagnano with the Toronto Professional Firefighters Association says it's becoming more common for drivers to not hear the blasting sound of a siren.
There's been talk about the possibility of installing a mechanism inside emergency vehicles that would trigger a radio broadcast alert warning drivers they were approaching.
"A lot of times things like this don't get done until the government actually legislates something. I think we're getting to the point with technology being so advanced, really providing such a quiet compartment in cars, they need to take a look at this."