Arrive alive

[Happiness]

I suspect you just answered your own question. Rules/regulations vary by jurisdiction as to the priviledges/responsibilities involved when running L/S. Most jusrisdictions I'm aware of include exceeding the posted limit as allowable.

In BC you are allowed 25km above the posted speed limit. As a few other posters have mentioned, if I am told my call is code 3 I go to the scene L&S but 9/10 times I will be going to the hospital with out. There are very few times I have returned L&S. If the call is 4am and there is no traffic on the roads here, rarely do we wake up everyone in town (even though I am of the mind set If I'm awake every one is awake). L&S are great on the highway if you are surrounded by deer in the off season (Deer are never on the road during hunting season hummmm maybe smarter than we give them credit for).

Since I dont work in a city centre but have seen the grid lock in my travels I'm not sure if that would help as you cant get them out of your way anyways, and like someone said who the hell wants to listen to that noise for 1/2 hour or more.

[JPINFV]

I suspect you just answered your own question. Rules/regulations vary by jurisdiction as to the priviledges/responsibilities involved when running L/S. Most jusrisdictions I'm aware of include exceeding the posted limit as allowable.

The speed limit rarely limits my speed regardless of what I'm driving and who's on board. The speed limit should be near the bottom of concerns whereas the driver should be more concerned with the capabilities of the driver to ensure a smooth ride, the capabilities of the vehicle, and road conditions including weather and traffic. Going from 75 minutes to 45 minutes is decrease of 40%, which correlates to a rather large increase in the average speed of the unit. I find it hard to believe that the speed limit is almost half the actual safe speed of the road, and if it was that the crews regularly obeyed that limit. Additionally, just because something isn't "allowed" doesn't necessarily mean that it's enforced and the crews obey said limit.

Thus, the problem isn't lights and sirens or the lack there of, it's the fact that the local government is using speed limits as revenue generators and not for safety. A speed limit set too low is more dangerous that a speed limit set too fast.

[Richard B the EMT]

FDNY EMS policy is, per the call type, respond L&S, or as a regular vehicle, stopping at all red traffic signals.

Once your crew gets to the scene, at either BLS or ALS level, the crew can determine the actual condition, and use, or not use, L&S, while enroute to the hospital, dependant on that condition.

[Happiness]

*Note: I take a pragmatic look at speeding, especially since a lot of speed limits are set to generate revenue, not increase safety.

Well I havnt a clue how you get the speed limits are set to generate revenue....please explain

[HERBIE1]

Well I havnt a clue how you get the speed limits are set to generate revenue....please explain

Think speed traps.

[JPINFV]

Well I havnt a clue how you get the speed limits are set to generate revenue....please explain

Baring special situations, in the US the speed limits are generally supposed to be set at around the 85th percentile of the average speed of traffic in good conditions as determined by a speed study. If you set the speed lower, you generate revenue by increasing the amount of cars in violation as well as increasing the size of the violation. If the speed limits were set to where they are supposed to be set, then there would be much less vehicles "speeding."

Here's a good position paper regarding 85th percentile speed limits. http://www.ite.org/standards/speed_zoning.pdf

[Just Plain Ruff]

Emergent transport can make an 75 minute hospital transfer 45 minutes. It may not save much time in urban areas but over rural countryside it is a life saver.

Help me with the math on this one.

You are driving the speed limit on rural highways which is between 55 and 70 miles per hour, depending on the type of highway.

Just how fast are you going in order to cut 30 minutes time off the transport? 80? 90?

Our transports are usually 75 minutes going 70 miles per hour. If we hit the lights we can go 80 which gets us there just about 10 minutes early.

If I'm going 80 miles per hour then I shave 10 minutes off the time so going 90 would shave 20 so I must be going 100 miles per hour to shave 30 minutes off the transport time.

Help me with this so I don't go nuts in my head and call you unsafe.

I don't want to but I'm just confused as to how you can cut 30 minutes off a 75 minute transport all while keeping a safe transport.

Please end my confusion.

[JPINFV]

Our transports are usually 75 minutes going 70 miles per hour. If we hit the lights we can go 80 which gets us there just about 10 minutes early.

...and see, I have a problem with this type of thinking. If you're on a road that allows you to normally go 70 MPH, and with the emergency lights you can go 80, then it's safe, if not safer, to go 80 without lights (siren is useless at 80). I say "safer" because the last thing I want traffic doing at any sort of sustained high speeds (say, above 40-50 MPH) is moving out of my way. If the speed of traffic (even if N=1) is 70, then I'm happy going the speed of traffic instead of having everyone recognize that an emergency vehicle with lights activated is approaching, and then attempt to find someplace to the right to put their vehicle.

Of course I need to put my standard disclaimer on here. My view on freeway speed is warped since in Southern California it's extremely common outside of rush hour for the speed limit to be 65, traffic moving somewhere between 75-80 (80-90 in the number 1 [carpool] and 2 lanes of a 8-10 lane freeway), and the highway patrol passing people. Speed does not kill. Speed differences kill.

Edit: Also, unless the travel time is about an hour or more, there's very little reason to speed. At an hour, a difference in 10 MPH saves 10 minutes. The best example is a car going 60 MPH goes 60 miles in an hour. A car going 70 MPH goes 70 miles, a difference of 10 miles. The car going 60 MPH goes a mile a minute, and thus would take 10 minutes to catch up with the other car if the other car stopped. So a 10 MPH difference saves a minute every 6 minutes traveled, and that's assuming no starting or stopping along the way.

Edited November 23, 2010 by JPINFV

[Just Plain Ruff]

...and see, I have a problem with this type of thinking. If you're on a road that allows you to normally go 70 MPH, and with the emergency lights you can go 80, then it's safe, if not safer, to go 80 without lights (siren is useless at 80). I say "safer" because the last thing I want traffic doing at any sort of sustained high speeds (say, above 40-50 MPH) is moving out of my way. If the speed of traffic (even if N=1) is 70, then I'm happy going the speed of traffic instead of having everyone recognize that an emergency vehicle with lights activated is approaching, and then attempt to find someplace to the right to put their vehicle.

Of course I need to put my standard disclaimer on here. My view on freeway speed is warped since in Southern California it's extremely common outside of rush hour for the speed limit to be 65, traffic moving somewhere between 75-80 (80-90 in the number 1 [carpool] and 2 lanes of a 8-10 lane freeway), and the highway patrol passing people. Speed does not kill. Speed differences kill.

Edit: Also, unless the travel time is about an hour or more, there's very little reason to speed. At an hour, a difference in 10 MPH saves 10 minutes. The best example is a car going 60 MPH goes 60 miles in an hour. A car going 70 MPH goes 70 miles, a difference of 10 miles. The car going 60 MPH goes a mile a minute, and thus would take 10 minutes to catch up with the other car if the other car stopped. So a 10 MPH difference saves a minute every 6 minutes traveled, and that's assuming no starting or stopping along the way.

And JP that is exactly why my thought process is how the hell can you shave 30 minutes off a 75 minute drive by running hot.

I hesitate to call bullshit on the poster who said he could shave 30 minutes off a 75 minute drive until I see his thought process or rebuttal to my response. IF I don't get one then he/she just falls into the unsafe at any speed driver and I'd like to steer clear of his coverage area.

I'm still waiting - silence........ anyone...... buehler....anyone>

I suspect he cannot back up his statements.

And for the record - I do not subscribe to the thoughtprocess that if you go faster you get there faster and you need L&S to do it. JP pointed out a part of my post that I wanted to clarify. I was just saying that I get there in 70 minutes at 70 miles per hour but if I drove at 80 miles per hour I'd get there 10 minutes faster. I DO NOT think that way. It's true time wise but that does not keep me safer. Besides, if the patient is going to die unless I get there faster, then hell, just call the coroner because the patient is gonna die anyway speed or no speed.

Edited November 23, 2010 by Ruffems

[Happiness]

Baring special situations, in the US the speed limits are generally supposed to be set at around the 85th percentile of the average speed of traffic in good conditions as determined by a speed study. If you set the speed lower, you generate revenue by increasing the amount of cars in violation as well as increasing the size of the violation. If the speed limits were set to where they are supposed to be set, then there would be much less vehicles "speeding."

Here's a good position paper regarding 85th percentile speed limits. http://www.ite.org/standards/speed_zoning.pdf

Ok I read this and it still does not explain to me how revenue is going to be made by setting speed limits.

All of us getting drivers licenses we are taught to drive to the conditions of the road. That is your first priority regardless of what you are legally allowed to do through policy. I agree just because you can dosnt mean you should..... I have always been under the impression the L&S are more to inform the other drivers to get out of your way not nessarily to be able to go faster...

As for the math the formulas is Rate=Distance/Time. So unless we have the actual distance which I havent seen as Dwayne says so nicely it is going to drive you BAT SHIT...........