Lights/Sirens on Freeways?

[whit72]

Dust you are starting to grow on me.

What the hell is the point of turning them off in a neighborhood?

[SSG G-man]

Maybe you missed the "in the middle of the night" part. During most hours we run L&S until we hit the scene. In the middle of the night, when we get close to the scene we turn off the sirens. Helps to keep the crowd of neighbors in bathrobes from gatheringh outside.

Sorry if I caused some confusion.

Also, have found that lights and sirens do not clear the traffic nearly as well as a generous dose of the air horn!!

[Dustdevil]

Maybe you missed the "in the middle of the night" part.

I still don't see how this is a factor.

Bystanders in bathrobes, I can deal with. Splattered kids on my bumper ruin my entire shift.

[hfdff422]

Train Horns!

[bassnmedic]

The longer you spend in EMS, the more you will understand that NOTHING should be left to the "discretion" of 18 year olds with 120 hours of night school.

[shade]

We respond hot to all 9-1-1 calls. Dispatch isn't trained to get the pertinent information to make the call about L & S. If caller requests "No L & S", and dispatch advises it over the radio (now it's on tape of caller request), we respond normal traffic. However, if it sounds like time is a factor, we roll hot. We do fire standbys for structure fires and used to roll hot to those. Now if there is no patient and only standby, we respond normal traffic. We had techs park the unit in the way of fire trucks---DUH! In Kansas the law is if the lights are on, so is the siren.

[whit72]

You run hot?

Oh boy another running hot comment.

[Timmy]

‘Truck 174, responding signal 1 (L&S) call for assistance, 1 male patient, conscious, breath, C/O rapid onset headache, I think this patient is timed critical!”

[AnthonyM83]

We respond hot to all 9-1-1 calls.

Likewise. All 911 medicals get "emergency response". State law says you only use the siren when necessary (which could be at all times...it's pretty liberal about it), but we tend to shut it of at night while going through residentials or when on the block approaching the house, for noise pollution purposes.

We actually have one city that has an ordinance against running L&S. I'm sure there's an exception for true emergencies where time matters, but pretty much all calls are "code 2". Regular response.

I think our policy about no L/S on freeway EVEN if the call itself is on the freeway is ridiculous. We recently got the county 911 contract, so the owner is trying very hard to stay in good graces with everyone (like CHP who make the recommendation) but I think is taking it a bit too far if it's affecting gettiing to accident victim in 1 minute versus 5 minutes. Traffic is BAD here. L/S makes a HUGE HUGE difference.

[JPINFV]

Traffic is BAD here. L/S makes a HUGE HUGE difference.

If traffic on the freeways is bad, what difference would using your L/S make? Wouldn't not forcing the cars to merge allow traffic to flow at a faster rate, thus you traveling more safely at a faster rate?