texting woman almost kills EMT's

akflightmedic said:
I didn't say faster than the speed of sound, I said faster than it carries.

When you are zooming down an interstate the volume of the siren does not project as far forward as it would if you are moving at a slower pace. It is a simple concept...

You can "outrun" your siren.

Sorry, I have no other way to explain it but any seasoned person who has run down an interstate with a siren in use knows what I am talking about.
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Ahh, alright. I misunderstood what you said before.
 
akflightmedic said:
I didn't say faster than the speed of sound, I said faster than it carries.

When you are zooming down an interstate the volume of the siren does not project as far forward as it would if you are moving at a slower pace. It is a simple concept...

You can "outrun" your siren.

Sorry, I have no other way to explain it but any seasoned person who has run down an interstate with a siren in use knows what I am talking about.
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I agree with AK

While I do not know the physics at play, you cannot hear a siren from a highway patrolman or ambulance on the freeway until they are mere feet behind you (which is not a safe distance, so its moot point). The siren simply is not effective at highway speed and is dangerous, because you may think others are hearing you. It's use should be restricted to intermittent chirps in bumper to bumper traffic to enable you to get to the shoulder.

Remember than the sound of cars on a highway, created by the suction between the tire and asphalt, is around 95 decibels. You also have the sound of the wind hitting your vehicle, the windows rolled up, and any radio that is on inside of the vehicle.
 
daedalus said:
I agree with AK

While I do not know the physics at play, you cannot hear a siren from a highway patrolman or ambulance on the freeway until they are mere feet behind you (which is not a safe distance, so its moot point). The siren simply is not effective at highway speed and is dangerous, because you may think others are hearing you. It's use should be restricted to intermittent chirps in bumper to bumper traffic to enable you to get to the shoulder.

Remember than the sound of cars on a highway, created by the suction between the tire and asphalt, is around 95 decibels. You also have the sound of the wind hitting your vehicle, the windows rolled up, and any radio that is on inside of the vehicle.
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It MAY have something to do with the Doppler effect, but probably not. Just a guess.
 
Im glad to hear nobody crashed on the Interstate.... but like others... why was there a police escort? That's weird to me and a strange concept. When I worked for the police department as a dispatcher they had a specific policy forbidding police escorts. Not like its gonna get you to where your going anywhere faster.

And as a student, why were you sitting up front? If I have a new person and they opt to sit up front I would rather have them stay at the station because they obviously are not interested in learning or going along for the right reasons. Your not gonna learn ne thing sitting up front. And three providers in the back is hardly crowded.

You were great in your observation that the police escort had a "command package" so what was your observation with the patient? What went wrong to make them deteriorate and what did the ALS providers due to "stabilize" them?
 
ResTech said:
Im glad to hear nobody crashed on the Interstate.... but like others... why was there a police escort? That's weird to me and a strange concept. When I worked for the police department as a dispatcher they had a specific policy forbidding police escorts. Not like its gonna get you to where your going anywhere faster.

And as a student, why were you sitting up front? If I have a new person and they opt to sit up front I would rather have them stay at the station because they obviously are not interested in learning or going along for the right reasons. Your not gonna learn ne thing sitting up front. And three providers in the back is hardly crowded.

You were great in your observation that the police escort had a "command package" so what was your observation with the patient? What went wrong to make them deteriorate and what did the ALS providers due to "stabilize" them?
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Glad someone else caught that. Instead of worrying about the woowoos, how about telling us what happened with the pt?
 
I caught it...just tired of nasty grams or being accused of paragodism for pointing out the blatantly obvious....
 
akflightmedic said:
I caught it...just tired of nasty grams or being accused of paragodism for pointing out the blatantly obvious....
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And the infraction points that come along with it.
 
what happened was, I was going back and forth between doing classwork and observing the Medic in the back. And when things got real deep, there wasn't much room for me in the back so I went back up front and watched from the passenger seat. I just happened to turn back around and face the front when I saw the idiot jump out in front of us. Scared the hell outta me, and the PHCP'S i was with. definitely not something i wanna go through again. freaky as hell.
 
"Tramp" "Idiot"?????????

She wasn't the overzealous one with an unnecessary parade of emergency vehicles. If I had an ambulance up my a$$ that all of the sudden laid on the the airhorn, I'd cut it to the median too! From your description, i am going to guess you were heading south on 55, correct? With all of the cool descriptions of the "command package" aside, why do you feel there was a need for an escort? I have traveled that stretch many a times over the last 30 years and have never recalled stalling traffic that would remotely necessitate running hot, much less with an escort.

I can see the concern for attention to detail, but it really sounds like your agency went a little over the top.
 
Sasha said:
I'm trying to figure out why you needed an escort.

Escorts are BAD. More than one flashy siren vehicle travelling in a line confuses drivers.
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every time we go code 3 to the hospital we have a fire paramedic squad follow up behind us. most of our rigs are BLS, so we have the paramedic ride in the back with the EMT and have the squad follow with lights and sirens (if needed). we also have police escorts on pediatric arrests to drive ahead of us and stop traffic in intersections. i've had more problems regarding stupid drivers while driving code TO the call (without an escort), than driving code to the hospital (with fire following behind).
 
Keep in mind these are all real questions. :)

Why does the fire squad need to follow if the Paramedic is on board?

At that time, isn't it out of service and shouldn't it be obeying all traffic laws?

Why do pediatric patients receive special treatment?

Also, with the last part, you're in the front both times with the current wording, so I'm not sure that I follow.

In any case, I've never seen any literature in favor of having escorts. :)
 
So a vehicle containing personnel that are in no way providing direct patient care is running hot??? Two questions........

1. Why????????

If the Paramedic is on board, then there is ZERO need for the squad to run hot to the ER. It will get there a couple of minutes later, likely before care is released to the ER staff.

2. What kind of calls are you running hot to the ER with?

Emergency traffic transports are so rarely needed, especially in the urban environment you describe. You are saving minimal time, but maximizing a risk to yourself, your crew, your patient, and the rest of the knuckleheads out there that demonstrate a lack of common sense frequently.

Is the liability really worth it? This is one area that we are truly our own worst enemy in.
 
Hal9000 said:
Why does the fire squad need to follow if the Paramedic is on board?

At that time, isn't it out of service and shouldn't it be obeying all traffic laws?

Why do pediatric patients receive special treatment?

Also, with the last part, you're in the front both times with the current wording, so I'm not sure that I follow.
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The squad follows as an extra resource, and peds get police escorts because it cuts down the time to the ER. medics can't intubate or give IOs to peds in this county so in cases of ped arrests (or other severe condition), time really is of the essence.

and i was trying to make a point that i haven't had more trouble driving with escorts than without.

although i will admit that we drive code 3 to the hospital more often than is probably needed.
 
kittaypie said:
the squad follows as an extra resource, and peds get police escorts because it cuts down the time to the er. Medics can't intubate or give ios to peds in this county so in cases of ped arrests (or other severe condition), time really is of the essence.

And i was trying to make a point that i haven't had more trouble driving with escorts than without.

Although i will admit that we drive code 3 to the hospital more often than is probably needed.
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C-a-l-i-f-o-r-n-i-a
 
kittaypie said:
The squad follows as an extra resource, and peds get police escorts because it cuts down the time to the ER. medics can't intubate or give IOs to peds in this county so in cases of ped arrests (or other severe condition), time really is of the essence.

and i was trying to make a point that i haven't had more trouble driving with escorts than without.

although i will admit that we drive code 3 to the hospital more often than is probably needed.
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So you are going to risk everyone around you, plus your life for a child?? Sorry, one dead kid is better than one dead kid, and three dead ambulance staff.

You haven't had mroe trouble, but how long habe you been in EMS? Can you tell me for sure that it doesn't confuse drivers? I almost got mowed down yesterday leaving the hospital because there was a rescue and an engine driving in succession.

There is a reason it is recommended that the engine leave before or after the rescue and that they don't leave the station at the same time.
 
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I still call shens on this whole story in the first place.
 
Sasha said:
So you are going to risk everyone around you, plus your life for a child?? Sorry, one dead kid is better than one dead kid, and three dead ambulance staff.

You haven't had mroe trouble, but how long habe you been in EMS? Can you tell me for sure that it doesn't confuse drivers? I almost got mowed down yesterday leaving the hospital because there was a rescue and an engine driving in succession.

There is a reason it is recommended that the engine leave before or after the rescue and that they don't leave the station at the same time.
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maybe you should've looked more carefully?

and safety is always the first priority. i'm not advocating escorts, i'm just saying that's how it works in this county.
 
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