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Chicago paramedics may use Segways

Copyright 2005 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By DELROY ALEXANDER
Chicago Tribune

In a bid to cut through growing downtown traffic, which has slowed the response to emergencies by firefighters and ambulances, the Fire Department is considering using mini-personnel carriers that are usually seen at special events such as the annual Taste of Chicago festival.

Commissioner Cortez Trotter said Wednesday his department is thinking of using paramedic units that feature Segway Human Transporters, which can move riders at about 7 m.p.h.

The department has finished a monthlong test downtown of six teams of two people using Segways equipped with defibrillators and other life-saving equipment.

It carried out the pilot program, which ended Nov. 1, in an attempt to speed up average emergency-response times that have slowed by nearly 30 seconds in the first nine months of the year.

Increased traffic because of the growing number of buildings and construction downtown forced the department to consider using Segways, Trotter said in response to questions posed during the third day of hearings on Mayor Richard Daley’s $ 5.2 billion budget for 2006.

“We will not only keep them in the downtown areas, but also in other areas where we see some congestion,” he said. “We are evaluating that and if we need to increase it we will do that.”

The average truck and fire engine primary response time rose to 3 minutes 56 seconds in the first nine months of the year, up from 3 minutes 30 seconds in each of the two previous years, Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.

The average response time for medical and ambulance services increased to 5 minutes and 2 seconds from 4 minutes and 43 seconds a year earlier, he said.

Although the response times are slower, they are well inside nationally accepted response times of 4 to 6 minutes.

The department will spend the next couple of weeks trying to determine whether it’s practical to station the Segway units downtown during the spring, summer and mid-fall.