Motorcycle ambulance?

[tcfjr]

From this Norwegian site:

Help may arrive on a motorcycle
Norway's largest hospital wants to start using motorcycles as ambulances, to get to accident scenes more quickly.

Officials at Ullevål University Hospital in Oslo think that emergency health care personnel can get through traffic more quickly on a motorcycle, and thus reach persons needing help more quickly.

"Motorcycles can often be faster in traffic than cars," Bjørn Karr, a department head at the hospital, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Friday.

He stressed that time is a critical factor in saving heart attack or stroke victims, or reaching people badly injured in accidents.

Karr said he hopes a trial program using specially equipped motorcycles can start in Oslo this summer. The motorcycles, he said, would have advanced first-aid equipment that's common in a conventional ambulance.

 

[GunMD]

Like this?

 

[sparky3008]

From this Norwegian site:

Help may arrive on a motorcycle
Norway's largest hospital wants to start using motorcycles as ambulances, to get to accident scenes more quickly.

Officials at Ullevål University Hospital in Oslo think that emergency health care personnel can get through traffic more quickly on a motorcycle, and thus reach persons needing help more quickly.

"Motorcycles can often be faster in traffic than cars," Bjørn Karr, a department head at the hospital, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Friday.

He stressed that time is a critical factor in saving heart attack or stroke victims, or reaching people badly injured in accidents.

Karr said he hopes a trial program using specially equipped motorcycles can start in Oslo this summer. The motorcycles, he said, would have advanced first-aid equipment that's common in a conventional ambulance.

Ever looked at how many emergency vehicles get into accidents because people don't see or hear them and yield?

Wonder how many of these motorcycle ambulances will become their own patients?

 

[jrd14]

This sounds like a good idea, but I've got to agree with Sparky.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Every good thing has a downside. Seems to me that a well trained motorcyclist will be able to take time at intersections based on time saved elsewhere in traffic. Lane Sharing in any metorpolitan area will get the bikes there faster than any 4 wheel vehicle...and bikes can afford to slow down at intercections unlike big trucks because bikes don't take two blocks to get up to speed.

 

[nusman68]

I'm sure it would work well in certain circumstances. In our response area near Hwy 59 here, it becomes gridlocked at rush hour and takes forever to get our ambulances to the patient; many times we'll have a patient in a car on the freeway, or have to take the freeway to get to another roadway. I could see where having a motorcycle could dramatically reduce the response time by lane splitting/driving on the shoulder, etc. This could 'buy the patient more time' until the ambulance got there. The major issue would be getting the budget approved for it; in our case, county commissioners have the final say on the budget. They would want exact numbers on 'how much' the response time could be reduced, which would be unknown, of course, until such a unit was put into action. And so it goes....

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

I'm sure it would work well in certain circumstances. In our response area near Hwy 59 here, it becomes gridlocked at rush hour and takes forever to get our ambulances to the patient; many times we'll have a patient in a car on the freeway, or have to take the freeway to get to another roadway. I could see where having a motorcycle could dramatically reduce the response time by lane splitting/driving on the shoulder, etc. This could 'buy the patient more time' until the ambulance got there. The major issue would be getting the budget approved for it; in our case, county commissioners have the final say on the budget. They would want exact numbers on 'how much' the response time could be reduced, which would be unknown, of course, until such a unit was put into action. And so it goes....

I have seen statistics/studies regarding lane sharing and the time saved in various metropolitan areas. I am sure the studies could be found that could support the decision.

 

[madmike2]

IIRC, there are a couple of European countries who use this idea. I think some metropolitan area was trying this idea here in the U.S. Geez, its been a couple of years, but I think it was in the Southeast.

 

[afterburn]

The pic is from the Dutch ambulance services, and they use them here in several cities. It started as a trial, and they saved a few dozen lives in the one city they did the trial alone because they could get through traffic and at the scene quicker than a normal ambulance. Now they are added to all major city ambulance post.

Believe it or not, but this bike carries all the equipment and medication also present in a normal ambulance, except for the stretcher. (duh)

 

[Thug]

I've not heard of an ambulance bike going down over here in Oz as yet and they have been using them for many years in QLD and NSW. But like the coppers on bikes they're bound to come to grief soon or later as rarely as it is despite the bells and whistles.

You will most likely see the bike before you hear it due to the HID strobes and their effectiveness on our peripheral vision when in a car. The beauty with bikes are you can pretty much go anywhere I have known some to be able to get into a lift "24th floor please" up footpaths anywhere.

The time saved getting to a patient especially in the peak traffic can be a great deal so no need to reinvent the wheel here guys it's already been done and it works.

And yes they do save lives as early intervention research shows.

Cheers