Reply #33: I was a volunteer ambulance driver several years ago [View All]

[Robb]

Transporting a patient to the hospital on a freeway, we are instructed to maintain our speed at or under the limit with lights and sirens off for 90% of the calls we were on. "Running code" is what it's called when lights and sirens are operating on an ambulance, and that is reserved for the very few situations where we could not stabilize the patient and s/he was likely to die unless at the hospital immediately.

The job of the EMTs and Paramedics is to stabilize the patient and get them safely to the hospital. Lights and sirens on the highway, as well as speeding, statistically actually kill more patients than they help.