Ambulance crashes happen with tragic frequency. EMS1 posts news of ambulance collisions, which happen with such regularity that our news editors aren’t able to cover them all. Otherwise, our news coverage would be dominated by ambulance crashes. Here are a few of the recent ambulance collisions EMS1 has covered:
- A Virginia EMT died after the ambulance he was driving collided with a dump truck.
- Five people, including two paramedics, were injured when another vehicle left its lane and struck the ambulance.
- A Florida ambulance crash with a tractor trailer killed the patient and injured two crew members.
- Two Michigan paramedics were seriously injured when their ambulance struck a school bus in an intersection.
- A multiple-vehicle crash involving a Chicago Fire Department ambulance injured three people.
Avoid and survive an ambulance collision
Ambulances travel millions of miles every year. Whether responding to an emergency, transporting a patient, driving to a posting location or returning to quarters, here are actions for every EMS provider to take to avoid an ambulance crash and survive the collision.
1. Trust no one
Other drivers are distracted, drunk, asleep or incompetent until proven otherwise. Drive defensively, anticipating the drivers around you will make the worst possible decisions and will also react erratically and indecisively as you approach them at an intersection or prepare to overtake a vehicle. Never trust another driver to do the right thing. Instead, expect them to do the worst thing.
2. “Do your job” as a driver or passenger
Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots Football Coach Bill Belichick had this expectation of his players: Do your job. Your job as an ambulance driver and passenger includes these fundamentals:
- Wear your seatbelt. Always.
- Operate at speeds safe for road conditions.
- Never be distracted by a smartphone, a radio, an MDT or food as you drive.
- Keep your eyes on the road and mirrors.
- Assess for hazards and anticipate how you will respond to a dynamic operating environment.
3. The road is a hot zone
Any roadway, especially when stopped on the side of the road, is a hot zone. Minimize your exposure time to all other vehicle traffic. Put as much distance as possible between you and those vehicles. Use other vehicles – fire apparatus and police cruisers – to shield the incident scene from intrusion by other vehicles. Move towards a warm zone with purpose and urgency.
4. Red lights and sirens are dangerous to life and health
One of the most common attributes of an ambulance collision is the use of red lights and sirens. The risk associated with red lights and siren use – which give an ambulance right of way and permission to operate above the posted speed limit – is well known; at least it should be. Nonetheless, red lights and siren use remains a dangerous sacred cow in EMS that has little impact on patient outcomes.
5. Transport is a treatment
Protocols and clinical decision-making guide patient treatment decisions. Pick the mode of transport, a prehospital patient treatment, most appropriate to the patient’s condition. The choices are not limited to either “no transport” or “red lights and sirens transport.” Transport modes include but are not limited to:
- Patient’s own vehicle
- Rideshare
- BLS non-emergent or emergent
- ALS non-emergent or emergent
- Flight
Other than patient lifting, can you think of another treatment that has such a high risk of injury? If your organization has a mode of transport quality improvement process or project underway to understand and minimize the risk of ambulance collisions, EMS1 wants to hear about it.
This article, originally published on January 30, 2019, has been updated.
