title: Is ambulance transport time with lights and siren faster than that without?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether ambulance transport time from the scene to the emergency department is faster with warning lights and siren than that without.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a convenience sample, transport times and routes of ambulances using lights and sirens were recorded by an observer. The time also was recorded by a paramedic who drove an ambulance without lights and siren over identical routes during simulated transports at the same time of day and on the same day of the week as the corresponding lights-and-siren transport.
  
  
  METHODS
  An emergency medical service system in a city with a population of 46,000.
  
  
  METHODS
  Emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty transport times with lights and siren averaged 43.5 seconds faster than the transport times without lights and siren [t = 4.21, P = .0001].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this setting, the 43.5-second mean time savings does not warrant the use of lights and siren during ambulance transport, except in rare situations or clinical circumstances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, NC.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Cabinum
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Whitley
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Owens
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Mayo
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances / Q000592:standards*; D001334:Automobile Driving; D006801:Humans; D008029:Lighting; D009624:Noise, Transportation; D009657:North Carolina; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors