Traffic safety evaluations for Emgergency Vehicles

Kurzfassung

One essential part of a working health system is that people who are seriously injured or sick receive professional assistance as fast as possible. Therefore there is an optimal rescue time for emergency vehicles (in Germany the rescue time is normally around 8 - 15 minutes). To keep this rescue time, emergency vehicles like fire trucks, ambulances and police cars have special rights in case of an emergency situation. These special rights give emergency vehicles priority at intersections and allow them to violate red lights etc. But driving an emergency vehicle is still a dangerous and stressful situation. The probability of having an accident with an emergency vehicle that is driving with siren and flashing blue light is much higher than with a normal car and the probability that someone will be killed in an accident is also 4 times higher. This paper analyses the reasons for accidents with emergency vehicles and presents a description of the driving behavior for emergency vehicle. Furthermore typical accident situation are determined. The evaluation showed that most accidents happen at controlled and uncontrolled intersections. Mostly, not the traffic behavior of emergency vehicle is the only influence on traffic safety; also other traffic participants play an important role.