Copyright 2006 Boston Herald Inc.
By THOMAS CAYWOOD
The Boston Herald (Massachusetts)
Massachusetts police cars, fire trucks and ambulances racing to emergencies with lights flashing and sirens blaring collided with civilian vehicles 560 times last year.
That’s up roughly 10 percent, from 511 emergency vehicle crashes in 2004, according to Registry of Motor Vehicles figures. There have been 37 such crashes this year at last count.
“The whole thing in the emergency services is that if you don’t get to the fire or arrive at the hospital in one piece you’re not going to do anyone any good,’' said James Solomon, a veteran defensive driving expert with the National Safety Council.
He and other experts chalk up the continuing problem of emergency-vehicle accidents here and across the country to factors that include motorists who don’t pull over when they hear sirens, and the jolt that cops, firefighters and EMTs get when they hit the lights and step on the gas.
“When you’re running hot, there’s an adrenaline rush to this. I’ve gotta get there. I’ve gotta get there,’' Solomon said. “You can get in trouble from that rush.’'
Nationally, 170 people were killed and 18,772 were injured in emergency vehicle crashes in 2004, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The bulk of those killed in emergency vehicle accidents are the drivers and passengers of civilian cars, which often are lighter and smaller than ambulances and police cruisers. Nine ambulance drivers and passengers were killed in emergency-vehicle crashes in 2004 compared to 24 occupants of civilian cars and two pedestrians.
“There could be a child running out into the street,’' said Verdicka Nembhard of Roxbury, who suffered a broken pelvis and collarbone in a January accident with an ambulance. She urged emergency vehicle drivers to be careful when they flick on the sirens.
On Christmas morning last year, in one of 212 crashes involving Boston police vehicles during the year, a cruiser racing to a call for backup slammed into a taxi in Roslindale. Both vehicles smashed through the wall of a Washington Street coin-op laundry which, luckily, was closed.
Two officers in the cruiser were slightly injured when the airbag smashed them in the face, and the driver of the taxi was treated at a local hospital.
The driver of the cruiser, officer Luis Lopez, contributed to the crash by “making poor judgments’’ given road conditions and the nature of the call, an investigator reported. The driver of the other car was cited for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, a $100 ticket.
“Accidents can happen,’' BPD spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said. “The department holds individuals accountable for any violation of our rules and procedures.’'
Said Lt. Christopher Stratton of Boston EMS: “You can’t drive with reckless abandon even though you’re going to an emergency. You can’t run people off the road.’'
Boston EMS recruits get three weeks of driving and ambulance-maintenance training, and veteran EMTs must be recertified on driving periodically. Even so, Boston EMS vehicles are involved in a couple dozen accidents a year, Stratton said. “It’s really unavoidable,’' Stratton said.
Fallon Ambulance is the biggest private ambulance firm in Greater Boston, with 85 ambulances and 450 employees. Spokesman Peter Racicot declined to say how many accidents his ambulances were involved in last year, but called it “a siginificant number.’'
“It’s a significant responsibility for us to make sure our drivers operate those vehicles safely,’' Racicot said. “Anytime those lights and sirens go on, it’s an adrenline rush.’'
An alarming number of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks headed to emergencies collide with civilian cars every year in Massachusetts:
Mass. emergency vehicle crashes - 511/2004, 560/2005, 37*/2006 to date
Note: RMV doesn’t have reliable statistics prior to 2004. Source: RMV
2004 National emergency vehicles in ...
Ambulance Fire truck Police cruisers
... Fatal crashes 31 21 106
... Injury crashes 563 706 7,344
... All crashes 4,301 2,637 26,639
Source: National Safety Council, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Boston Police Department total cruiser accidents - 240/2003, 185/2004, 212/2005
Source: Boston Police Department