Emergency Vehicles

Costly Accidents

Between 1999 and 2009, more than one emergency worker per month was killed while aiding a motorist by the side of the road. More law enforcement officers were killed in traffic-related incidents than from any other cause between 1998 and 2008. Seventy-one officers died in vehicle crashes or from being struck by a vehicle in 2008. From 2004 to 2006, 37,655 law enforcement injuries from crashes were reported.

Statistics for firefighters reveal the same pattern. From 1996 to 2007, vehicle collisions claimed the lives of 257 firefighters and another 53 firefighters died as a result of being struck by a vehicle. On average, about 25 percent of all firefighter fatalities are response or roadway scene related. One study estimates a fatality rate of 12.7 per 100,000 workers among emergency medical services (EMS) workers.

In addition to the loss of life, emergency vehicle accidents result in delayed emergency service, which can result in further loss of life. For example, a one-minute delay can drop the chance of survival for a cardiac arrest patient from 80 percent to 30 to 40 percent. Vehicle replacement runs from a low of $40,000 for a high-performance police car to more than $750,000 for a fire truck. Even more costly, lawsuits can strain the resources of already overburdened local governments.

Improving Safety

Emergency vehicles typically include warning lights, sirens and horns, and retroreflective striping, which reflects light back to its source. These features are designed to make other drivers aware of the size, speed, and location of emergency vehicles. Yet both the number of accidents and the average response time show that traditional measures are not fully effective. Research suggests that speeding to the scene of an emergency endangers drivers and occupants of emergency vehicles as well as other vehicles on the road and does little to improve aid or response time. One study concluded that lights and sirens saved about a minute off the average response time.

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