Emergency Medical Service (EMS) is an essential and transportation based emergency service, and now key component of the new SAFETEA-LU required State Strategic Highway Safety Plans. Ground EMS responds to approximately 30 million emergency medical/injury calls annually. In contrast to other commercial transport vehicles, ambulance transport safety is not currently encompassed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), nor formally by any other overseeing body and hence the safety oversight of this transport system is fragmented and largely devoid of current technical transportation safety input. This is of serious concern, particularly when the crash fatality rate for these EMS vehicles per mile traveled is estimated to be in excess of 10 fold higher than that for heavy trucks. Additionally there are ambulance wake effect crashes, with rates in excess of five fold of the identified ambulance crash rates. These deficiencies in EMS transportation safety process range in spectrum from safety performance data capture, to transportation system safety engineering, and vehicle design, vehicle safety performance and occupant protection. There is also no process for formal knowledge transfer of existing transportation safety understanding and expertise or vehicle design and safety technical expertise either from the commercial vehicle industry or the automotive safety industry to the ambulance industry. This paper identifies some of the unique challenges of this EMS transportation system and addresses existing and innovative approaches for augmenting knowledge transfer potential from other transportation areas to enhance the safety of this special transportation system.
Abstract