Best Practices for Emergency Vehicle and Roadway Operations Safety in the Emergency Services

• NCJ Number: 231555
• Date Published: July 2010
• Length: 164 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

This report examines issues related to emergency vehicle response and roadway scene operations that are common to both police and fire agencies and issues that improve upon roadway operations safety.

Abstract

Regardless of the discipline, all emergency responders face a wide variety of hazards to their health and safety, and many of these hazards apply across all disciplines. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice and the U.S. Fire Administration began collaboration on a number of issues related to emergency vehicle response safety and roadway scene safety issues that affected both disciplines. This is the third of three projects within this partnership, which examines issues related to emergency vehicle response and roadway scene operations common to both police and fire agencies. Following an introduction, this report is divided into six main sections. Section 2 examines case studies from incidents where fire fighters or police officers were injured or killed as a result of incidents related to emergency vehicle responses and roadway scene operations. Section 3 shows the magnitude of the problem by exploring the various statistics related to incidences of emergency vehicle collisions and responders being struck on the roadway. Both organizations and individuals have responsibilities in improving response and roadway scene safety. Section 4 highlights these responsibilities. Section 5 addresses the common causes of these incidents and provides strategies for the reduction these hazards. Section 6 provides the latest information on emergency vehicle lighting and reflective markings. Section 7 concludes by providing information on safely and effectively managing incidents that occur on the roadway. Figures and appended Web resources