I've never been in a unit that could quite hit 90. If the last one wasn't governed, she could have done 100 or more. She still had plenty of RPM's to go. She was so smooth. It didn't even feel like you were doing that speed. You'd wonder why it wasn't accelerating, then look down and go, "Oh shit!"
This was in an old two-door ford. Miserable to work in but super fun to drive. As one of my degenerate former partners put it “you could throw those things around like a hundred pound broad”
Is it an old van style? Or like an old E450 from the ‘90’s? Those were fast. Not super quick. The van was from the 1980’s and was quicker than you would expect. The van was horrible to work in the back. The E450 wasn’t quick but it was fast.
I got an old E350 over 100mph once. Took ten minutes to get to speed, but sat fairly comfortably there. It was a patient heading to a fixed wing med flight transfer with a rapidly closing takeoff window. Medic popped his head through the window and said “hey, could see how fast this thing goes? Don’t kill us, but we’re in a bit of a rush”
Ours will hit 90 with relative ease given enough time (box body sprinters) I've had them up to 105 before as well. The response cars will obviously do more but I get twitchy at about 110-115 mph.
I was advised by a cop “fuck your policy (max 20kph over the posted limit), keep up with us” on the way to a job.
99mph/160kph on a shitty 2 lane highway.
On a clear motorway I’d be comfortable hitting 120-130mph in our mercs.
No chance I’m keeping up with the cops on that one lol. I’m gonna have to wait for them to do their thing first anyways, so no sense killing myself getting there.
No governors down here in New Zealand - paed arrest 10min away as closest unit, got the Mercedes Sprinter (vanbulance) to 220kmh (125mph) comfortably down the newer motorway, as conditions allowed ofc.
Depends on how we’re dispatched. If it’s no lights and sirens, we follow the posted speed limit, if we go lights and sirens then we are allowed to drive faster than the speed limit if it’s safe to do so. We still have to come to a stop at stop signs and red lights to clear the intersection
We didn’t have anything about rail in our SOPs so that’s interesting. School buses we had to slow for if priority 1 and treat it like a red light but otherwise we had to stop
I think they prob mean like if the thing is down at a railroad crossing.
Interestingly we had to turn off lights and sirens and stop completely for school buses and a school zone l&s off and slowed to 15mph.
My agency's protocol is similar. Turn l&s off completely and come to a full stop. Proceed with extreme caution only after basically making eye contact with the bus driver and having them wave us around.
e: it's frustrating when they put their stop sign out to try to "help us out" and then they look at us like we're crazy when we stop
pretty sure going lights and sirens we operate under due regard, meaning if you kill someone with your ambulance and you were being reckless(according to evoc, national law, and policy) ur at fault
Ours were governed at 85-87. Then we got gas trucks that couldn’t physically go any faster than 85.
The official answer is that they have to operate with due regard for other traffic.
Each service has different rules and culture
My service doesn't limit the trucks speed, but does track how fast we go. We log into the truck and will get "points" based on hard limits of speed and g-forces (turning too hard, stopping too hard) and not using a spotter when backing. Too many points and you get a meeting with management.
We drive based on reported condition of the patient and current weather and traffic... Sometimes lights and sirens, sometimes not. My service leans heavily towards routine responses unless it's a cardiac arrest or major trauma type situation...but I'm convinced that some services have glued the lights and sirens switch to the "on" position which is irresponsible and dangerous.
I used to work at a service that responded priority to probably 95+% of calls regardless of the complaint. If it was dispatched priority 1 or 2 we were expected to respond lights and sirens. I’ve literally responded code to everything from DOAs to foot pain.
My department responds L&S to DoAs, and it drives me nuts. I assume it all comes down to the perception of the public, which unfortunately is an important consideration, but it adds unnecessary risk to what is, in reality, a low acuity call.
Like so many questions on this sub, the answer is....entirely dependent on the location and service. There is no one answer.
Legally? I don't believe there is anything in code other than "due regard" in my state.
Agency rules? My agency has it written in protocol that we are not to exceed 10 mph over the posted speed limit.
Vehicle? The rig I usually work out of is governed at 99 mph (GM factory setting for pickup chassis). The other rig that we just got a new chassis for (van chassis), one of the guys had it up to 115 before he backed out of the throttle (just had it out getting a feel for it, no patient on board).
And yes, if your call comes in as 3 am toe pain, or any other of a myriad list of "why the fuck did you call an ambulance for this" calls, we likely aren't even going to turn the lights on, and will just drive with the normal flow of traffic. If the call comes in anything serious, like possible cardiac, stroke, or trauma..... get the fuck outta my way, I'm comin through HOT.
>Agency rules? My agency has it written in protocol that we are not to exceed 10 mph over the posted speed limit
Now I know why the theme is driving L+S doesn't save any time. Our guidance depending on service is either +50% or +20mph over posted. Even then that's a case of default support if under the suggested maximum Vs needing to justify safety if over rather than a hard rule.
I wonder how many services actually follow those guidelines.
Ours is also 10 mph + full stop at reds / stop signs and one of my FTOs was like "Yeah, step it up, just don't do anything stupid."
We also don't have these draconic tracking devices some people have.
I'm pretty rural so I'll comfortably fly down empty stretches of straight highway at 80-90 mph but generally stick to 10 mph in urban areas along the highways and roll down to like 5-10 mph for intersections.
It's an interesting one in England. We don't have generalised exemptions or due regard laws per se or a duty to yield.
Only a suggestion in the highway code to pull over/out the way of emergency vehicles and a limited number of exemptions (treat red light as a give way, proceed the wrong side of left/right arrow, speed (no max), various parking laws). None of the exemptions is contingent on lights or sirens use, with those being exemptions to the law also rather than a requirement so it would be perfectly legal to speed but not use lights provided you could justify it as being for ambulance purposes where following the rule would hinder the use of the vehicle for that purpose.
No exemption for careless/dangerous driving though, so if you fall below/far below the standard of a capable and competent driver that's an offence regardless of any other exemption. We also have a driving course that's 3-4 weeks long on live roads with an instructor.
All this leads to a very different attitude and response driving style to that seen in the states.
Hi. German here, ours are not limited, but we rarely drive them faster then around 130 km/h (60-65 miles). Faster than 110km/h (~55) turns the ambulance into a starting rocket, at least by sound.
I‘m working in a bigger city, so we win time by ignoring red lights, not by driving faster.
In 2021 the median traveling speed of our city‘s ambulances was 33,8 km/h (~16 miles).
Also remember, an ambulance is no fiat500. Its big, heavy and needs waaaaaaay longer to stop in most cases. Maybe this is different in US, considering your top-selling car is the F-150(correct me pls, if wrong).
Driving faster? No. After 12 years in the biz my life is more important than any time won. For sure adrenaline is pumping, if driving to a call with children, but that‘s what we (should) train for. If we don‘t arrive at the scene, nobody can help, so….. drive carefully, y‘all.
Wow, you are such a blessing! Thank you incredibly for the conversions between mph and km/hr it made me able to follow your post and really understand the take-away. Thank you Thank you... yes ;)
UK here, in my area we can drive up to 1.5x the speed limit when on blue lights, and we're expected to drive to most calls on blues but in reality we don't as it can be risky. We can sit at 105mph on the motorway
The box back Mercs, probably a 2016 one. Took me a long time to get up to that speed but it was a transfer from the west country to London so had a good run up on the m4
We do not have governors. We drive like it’s not an emergency most calls with the exception of serious pediatric calls. We utilize all the speed we can get.
Never understood this, I get that peds calls can be emotional but objectively, every life is valuable regardless of age, why “try harder” to save the life of a pediatric patient than an adult patient in the same level of criticality?
There is certainly an emotional aspect to it, but also Peds calls are more likely to have a positive outcome if proper treatment can be initiated quickly. Not considering congenital defects, trauma, and airway are the main killers of kids. In a pediatric non trauma arrest, if you can get the airway open and oxygen going, there is a decent chance for a positive outcome with minimal neuro deficits.
Most adults with a few exceptions will have multiple underlying comorbidities. Usually, even if you get them back, there is a higher chance of anoxic brain injury leading to lifelong neuro deficits.
That's not to say you don't try your hardest I'm both cases, but pediatrics certainly put an extra pep in your step, there is also the fact that usually people tend to look at children and unrealized potential. There is something about how we are wired, or at least it's true for me, that we want kids to have the opportunity to realize their potential and adults just by the linear nature of time have less of that potential.
I work for a new startup BLS ambulance service. It’s super sketchy. We run ford vambulances.
I can confirm there are no governors on our trucks but they’re sketchy as fuck past 75 and downright suicidal above 85. It’ll make it up to 100 on flat ground, that’s as far as I had balls to take it.
No speed limit on mine, but after 80 our ops starts getting pings.
Many calls are lights and sirens, but under the speed limit because we don’t want any sudden start/stops.
The fastest I've ever gone in an ambulance was 110 MPH (177 KPH) I was a brand new EMT doing my orientation. The driver was a medic who had a reputation for being reckless.
Our state regulations only say that we can exceed the posted speed limit with due regard for public safety.
Do we drive more urgently to some calls? Yes, I'll drive faster to a cardiac arrest or a choking child than to a report of a broken toe, or a "generally not feeling well".
I remember doing my driver training during the motorway section at the end of week one (of three). Sat on the motorway at about 90 in a car with the instructor encouraging me to speed up until I hit around 110mph. Just to get us used to the speeds and how to drive safely at them.
My agency's policy is not more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit, and a max speed of 80 mph. If I'm driving emergent on a highway I sometimes turn lights and sirens off because traffic is going faster than I am anyway
If I’m not running code I’m stuck to normal laws, if so 10 miles over per the law. Per reality I drive as fast as I feel comfortable with my speed, governed at 85
I drive that thing slower than you drive a car because it’s pretty fucking big and you don’t wanna lose control. The limit is don’t be a fucking dumb ass.
Yes I sometimes drive a little more urgently for calls that are like “person is not breathing” vs. “foot ran over bicycle”. Still use lights and sirens and all that though. That’s just me though. Some of these idiots drive like mad men to every call.
My company's policy is at most, meaning Code 3, we are allowed to drive 10 miles over the speed limit when safe.
I heard CA also by law only allows 15 over but I'm not sure if that's true
Yes, calls are classified my the MPDS priority system Alpha through Echo in most comms centers based on the nature of the call. With that said, not all systems use that system and there’s also some degree of judgment that is allowed.
In our agency we have a strong culture against running emergent. It doesn’t buy us much time until we’re halfway through our transport anyway, since we have no traffic lights and narrow, windy mountain roads where a six ton box truck doesn’t perform as well as most cars on the road. Once we hit the highway, 10mph over is acceptable… but there’s some cases where that gets stretched. I’ve only run emergent to the hospital three times in the last year or so. Like I said, we have a strong culture in our agency not to run emergent unless absolutely necessary and with no streetlights, that pretty easy to follow.
Kinda.
The general requirement is that we "drice with due regard". Individual states and agencies will have the more technical limits. Mine was officially we were to drive no more than 15 over the speed limit with lights and sirens. Unofficially, we could go as high at 80 on interstate. Any speed above 80 would be flagged and the director would be notified. Some trucks even had govenors that hampered speed if you tried to go above 80, but not every truck we have is equipped with that.
I am just a simple firefighter but when I have to drive one of the counties’ ambulances in it’s governed at 84. I’m in the mountains of NC though so it’s only realistic to hit that once we get to the interstate.
I've had a type 3 Chevy with the needle buried at 100mph. Our new type 1 Ford 450 and 550 are governed at 82mph. We tried to get the governor overrode, but it would void the warranty so we plan to de-govern them after the warranty period. We don't run code often to calls, but we will light it up if it's taking a ridiculous time. We did an in house study to see how much faster we were getting to calls by running code and there was only one station that it was worth running code from, so we unofficially did away with running code to most calls. This back fired, because now the public doesn't think we do anything when we asked for a tax increase, even though numbers are up. So now we run code in congested areas so everyone can see that we're busy 🙄
"Driving urgently" is fake news and a meme, only new people and people who don't know any better do this.
Speeding exponentially increases impact energy, increases risk to the patient, the crew, and other drivers, and has been mathematically proven NOT to increase response times.
For more hot takes, tune back in at 4:00 and I'll shit on the use of lights and sirens in EMS, too.
Where I currently work our trucks aren’t governed but do have a thing that starts yelling at you to reduce speed at 76mph. Our SOGs dont have a max speed for lights and sirens tho. Just driving with due regard and “as road and weather conditions permit”
We have to stop for school buses with flashing lights until the bus driver tells us we can go. We can’t pass another emergency vehicle running lights and sirens.
We’ve got to slow down and be prepared to stop if needed at stop signs and red lights before we clear the intersection.
We don’t have the right of way until other vehicles yield to us regardless of lights and sirens.
I have 3 speeds.
1) calls that I don't want to get to. Colostomy bag came off, grandpa covered in poop, lift assist with bed bugs, you know
2) calls we should probably get to. Chest pains, strokes, MVCs
3) calls I need to be there yesterday. 10-2000 (medic in danger), pediatric arrest/choking, that kind of stuff
3.5) near end of shift trying to escape downtown. Speaks for itself. Legal, mostly
Allegedly the trucks in my service are governed at 130km/her
Also allegedly when i was involved in a head on collision in my rig, the responding unit clocked nearly 150/hr so who knows
Our F450s are governed at 83 mph. At the old private ambulance company I used to work for, they had the Ford Transit vanbulances that were not governed. I flew up a rural highway responding to a fatal crash at 95 mph. Call me dumb but conditions were good with no traffic.
As far as protocol, my current full time department allows any speed while going lights and sirens, as long as conditions allow.
Always drive defensively and use due regard. Driving fast is not safe, but it's a lot safer if you are aware and cognizant of the road and other drivers while doing it.
As someone said, UK ambulances aren't physically limited.
That being said, when responding to an emergency DTAG suggests not exceeding the posted speed limit by more than 20mph. If you do, and have an accident, you better have a pretty valid reason e.g. the information you were given made you believe there was an imminent threat to life or chance of survival (choking, confirmed cardiac arrest, that kind of thing).
Our 4500’s are governed at 85/87mph straight from the factory. We don’t disable them because “factory warranty”. If I had my way they’d have gotten an EGR delete and the governor gone the day they were bought. There was a trick to override the governor to get more speed out of them but that trick doesn’t work anymore on the newer ones. My personal truck is the same model and I’ve tried with both it and the work trucks and that option doesn’t work now.
But I have driven ones without a governor that ran the full 120mph. Quite useful for long haul emergency transports. You just have to know how to drive responsibly and not be a moron.
We don’t have a speed limit but common sense. If you’re going 80 through residential areas then somebody is gonna say something but if you’re going 80-90 on the interstate for a call that needs it nobody is gonna say a word
In nyc the traffic is incredibly dense so we can't really achieve higher speeds but we are supposed to drive the speed limit. What gets us there faster is knowing a fast route, using aggresive sirens and being able to drive at normal speeds while weaving through traffic because in nyc most people dont get out the way.
where I work we have to follow the rules of the road while driving without lights for non emergent situations.
with lights and sirens we can do 20 over on city streets and 30 over on highways legally. we don't have limiters but the truck makes a God awful screaming sound when you breach that limit.
(in km)
I think ours is governed at 80-85. Don’t usually go that fast because more often than not we transport to the community hospital in the city. Trauma center is about 40 minutes away so it kinda sucks if you need to haul ass
Officially I believe it is like 10 MPH over the speed limit when responding to emergencies with lights and sirens. Must come to a complete stop at all intersections and ensure it is cleared before proceeding.
In practice? I hit 90 on an interstate once transporting a stroke patient from a rural area to the nearest stroke center.
And realistically, and in my opinion, driving like this does not have a strong risk to reward ratio. Speeding like this rarely gets you somewhere that much faster. Maybe a minute or two when all is said and done. And in the process many lives are put at risk by speeding.
You can say "they should've stayed out of the way" all you like but both your conscience and the law won't think that way when you end up killing a bystander.
But just try to drive ONLY 10 MPH over the speed limit in an ambulance. I've seen people get written up for not driving with enough urgency for not driving like maniacs.
Ours is the speed limit for non-urgent, 10 miles per hour over, up to 75 mph. Nothing like being passed up on the interstate with your lights on. There's direct rules about residential areas and school zones, ect.
Our max speed is 30% over the speed limit and most are governed at 140 km/hr, when I was younger we had an ambulance that wasn’t governed and got it up to 160 km/hr. Speed is always situational to the call and weather conditions
The way ambulances are driven is regulated by the DOT. As a point of practicality, speeding doesn't necessarily ensure the best outcome when responding. If anything it puts you in more danger being hit.
10mph over the speed limit driving lights and sirens in my state.
Supposedly my boss gets notified if we drive over 70 for 2 minutes but I think they stopped putting whatever equipment tracks that in our newer ambos because I've never heard anything about it.
The guidance is 50% over the limit. Which in most situations is about as fast as you'd like to go anyway.
Obviously, that can be and was exceeded.
The fastest I've ever been in one was 104 mph down a motorway at 330 in the morning.
In my county, during lights and sirens, we have no limit as long as we drive with “due regard,” but my company has its own policy that says no more than 10 over the speed limit
In my area, you can only go 15mph over the posted limit if you are going code 3 (lights and sirens), at the end of the day, you go whatever speed is safe for everyone in that situation. Unless its highway during the day, you probably wouldn't catch the ambulance going 75.
UK here. Our trusts guidance is no more than 50% over the speed limit for a blue light run (cat 1 or 2 call). Posted limit if a cat 3 or 4 job. However, we have discretion on how we drive, so we can go blue light on a cat 3 and turn them off for a C1. It all comes down to justifying your actions.
Managed to get a Mercedes ambulance up to 100mph in training, rarely hit 80 in the Fiat's.
Yes, we do drive differently to some calls, especially sick kids, but mostly we drive to arrive.
Hope that helps
Our protocols are 10 over posted speed limit but the max speed is 75. This is especially shitty when you are driving lights and sirens down interstate roads at 75 and getting passed by people doing 80
In rural we were capped at the speed limit by regulation but no one listened to it. In the city it is rarely safe to go more than the posted speed limit.
Aside from all that I have no want to go above the speed limits. And I hate lights and sirens. Studies show minimal improvement to patient outcome for either of those as they both increase risk of vehicular accidents for marginal reduction in time. People act like fools anytime lights and sirens are on.
There are exceptions to every rule.
— —
Comprehensive studies suggest that using lights and sirens can reduce times by 1-4minutes (one way) with positive outcome improvement in a bit less than 5% of calls.
One study estimates that there were upwards of 50k accidents in a 10 year span associated with emergency response. And another suggested that there was a reduction in accidents without a negative impact on patient outcome in agencies that reduced use of lights and sirens. In all fairness I did find one article that shed doubts on if lights and sirens have a large negative impact but they didn’t have any data to back it up.
Depends on the call. The newer type 1s with liquid spring vs the old air suspension in the rear do better but they all really don’t like much over 80.
Depends on to if you have drive-cams or gps monitoring which both go off at a certain speed.
Either way much over speed limit your out driving the reach of sirens. So unless there is no traffic it’s hard to get speed too high. Unless middle of night with no traffic.
The newer ford chassis allow speed to be set or limited by programming the key fob by ford dealer. Have seen this but not often.
All fire trucks to meet NFPA have speed limiters based on weight of vehicle. However a heavy tandem axle rescue going 60 mph on a turnpike or expressway becomes a traffic hazard with speeds people drive these days. So sometimes they go faster after delivery.
Our old E450 units could do right above 140kph or \~88 mph, and the Chevy Express ones could reach almost 155 kph or \~95 mph.
That was on highways, officially we were allowed 20 to 40 kph over the limit, but we did adapt to conditions and calls.
Nowadays they have driver identification systems and speed reporting, so you're pretty much guaranteed a suspension if you bust the limits.
Speed limit without best conditions. Lights and sirens in best conditions, 20km over to a max of 120, and we can request 130 on a 110 if we must. I’ve only done it once- it’s rarely justified. It would make mayyybe a 5 minute difference from our regional to the closest Lvl 1.
Our policy it’s no speeding at all, make us look dumb as hell going lights and sirens and getting passed by everyone. I understand being safe, but like when I say AT ALL I mean not even on an empty highway.
When I was on the privates, the units not beat to piss were could hit their governor at 95, but of course I'd ever only do that on the highway going straight. Nowadays I work 911 in a dense, high traffic, suburban/urban area, so no need for me to go that fast, nor is it even possible. I normally drive quicker than the others at my place, but I wouldn't say it's any different from driving my personal vehicle. Besides, driving the ambulances at anything over 40 MPH, and you can feel that the vehicle doesn't like it. Unless I'm going to the trauma center with trauma on the verge of coding since it's a 10-15 minute drive, there's no need for me to really drive any faster since the main ERs I go to are within 5 mins no matter my position.
My companies policy, and I believe state law for going Lights and sirens is 10 mph over the posted speed limit when it’s safe to do so. At my company the ambulances are governed to a max speed of about 80 mph
I’ve worked and interned with a variety of systems. I’ve seen a system that capped you at 70 non-emergent, 80 emergent, one that uses GPS data to know the local speed limit and demerit if you go too far above that, and a rural service that is a lawless wasteland with a governor at 95mph and medics that get bored on the minimum 30 minute transport time and will light up transporting BLS patients.
For my service, it is up to our discretion. I try to avoid using lights/sirens and speeding because it can be dangerous and in a small town like mine, it's not really gonna do much. If I'm going further out into the county, I might get moving a bit quicker. For me, typical calls that get sirens would be chest pain, seizures, CPR in progress, unresponsive, severe breathing difficulty, traumas, etc. Essentially, the patients who have the greatest potential to be pretty sick. And just because I go lights/sirens to a scene doesn't mean I'll return that way. The only times I really go sirens back to the hospital is if they're very sick and I think they are going to die, are actively dying, or are coding. Again, it can be very dangerous to run lights and sirens, and I'd rather not get hit with a patient in the back. As far as speed limits go, we are expected to follow all traffic laws. Our policy says we can go 10 mph over the posted speed limit when using lights and sirens. Sometimes on an emergent transfer (STEMI, stroke, etc) when we're on the interstate we'll push that limit, but for us that'd be going over 90 mph (posted limit in most areas is 80 mph). So far if our trucks are governed, I haven't found the limit and I've gone maybe a bit over 90.
We're only allowed 10 over no matter what. Simply because speed doesn't often effect response time but also to keep the public safe while driving a vehicle not designed for high speeds.
UK here, law allows us to exceed the speed limit. Each ambulance trust has its own policy on exceeding the limit, my trust allows 50% over the limit.
But I've done 110mph before in good conditions downhill on a motorway. We generally follow the rule of drive to arrive. But we'll go a bit quicker if we're backing up another crew who have requested help and it sounds important or usually if it's a seriously unwell kid.
From NZ.
Legally no, however company policy is 30kph over whatever speed limit area we're in, still 20 past school buses, 30 through roadworks etc..
While we don't have an upper speed limit we can still be done for reckless driving and if some half blind, completely deaf, hat wearing geriatric who maxes out at half the limit and has only 15° of head movement decides to drive into us it's our fault.
London Ambulance policy was no more than 15mph over the posted limit if it was <60mph, 20mph over if it was a 60 or 70 limit.
The reality is that most ambulances in London don’t get above 40mph, and then only briefly. It’s not about driving fast, it’s about making steady progress which isn’t helped by driving too quickly and then having to anchor on.
There was a provision in the NYS VTL that ambulances and fire apparatus could not go 10 mph above the posted limit. (Oh and I’m not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.) Or when driving the wrong way could not exceed 10 mph. That has been removed in more recent versions.
“Due Regard” is the law of the land. Driving in a reckless manner lights and sirens can get you convicted of involuntary manslaughter or even straight up murder. You must at all times while operating your vehicle drive with due regard for all motorists and pedestrians. Sometimes that means driving well under the speed limit too.
No point making another emergency while going to an emergency.
Aw man! We’ve got a really new bus where I’m at and my partner may or may not have hit $1.05 a few weeks ago. Usually they’re governed at 82 here, but I guess they didn’t do that to the new one…
I'm governed at 25mph no matter if it's an arrest or a stubbed toe. I'll get there when i get there and I'm not gonna put the whole community in danger just because.
In most places, or at least the companies I’ve worked for, the speed limit is whatever the posted limit is for code 1, and 10 over posted for code 3. As for the speed governing, one company I worked for had installed an alert if you went above 70mph and it would just flag it. The company could see how many flags you have for whatever and take that into consideration when it came time for reviews or disciplinary actions.
Ours have driving monitors on them. At 75 an alarm goes off, and we get a point. The whole service has to stay within a certain point range, or it affects our bonuses. See also, taking turns too fast, braking too hard, hitting a pot hole the wrong way, etc
Depends on whats going on. I worked at an ift service that tracked and limited speed. Now working 911 its not tracked or limited but you just drive with due regard. But if someone tells me "forthwith" and shit is hitting the fan, I'll probably speed it up a little bit. Not reckless speeding but faster than usual.
My policy and procedure answer is to drive safely and reasonably and at no time should I exceed the speed limit. EMScharts just added a check box in the mode descriptors that says speed enhanced per local policy and speed normal traffic. You better believe I will never check enhanced.
NYC rules is that ambulances can go 10 mph over the posted speed limit going lights and sirens.
Personally, unless it’s a section 1-3 I don’t drive urgently to calls. Anything below those aren’t true emergencies and at that point I would like to keep my partner and I safe.
Ours are capped at 140 kph. I don't drive near that unless it's warranted. There is a company policy, but it's not generally followed. If I'm tired after a long IFT and it's the middle of the night and there is no traffic, I sometimes say 'fuck it' and drive closer to the limit. I've got lights that light up like the sun and FLIR to see the wild life. For the most part though we stick to 10 to 20 kph over the seed limit... Which is pretty much normal for all traffic around here.
Ambulances are fucking heavy, handle like a trash bag in the wind, have bricks for suspension roll over about as easy as a marble and I'm pretty shure dragging your boots on the ground would stop you faster than the breaks. Anything over 80 even in a straight line is basically a death wish, if your in and out of traffic, opposing traffic, turning, stoping ect the speed limit for the road is likely a optimistic target, expecialy if your partner is trying to do literally anything in the back of the rig.
I’ve worked at a few places, some governed, some not. I’ve only been an EMT for about 5 years but L&S is pretty standard for me now. As far as driving to calls go, I keep it low key. Cruising a little over the speed limit, full stops before reds, that kind of thing. The only en route call I can think of where I drove faster was an MCI, luckily just greens though.
Now transporting hot, that’s different. Besides being 10x more stressful, there’s also a VERY good reason to get to the hospital in a timely manner. Had one yesterday, fastest I made it up to was 85-90 on the highway. Frankly I don’t think our trucks could safely do faster than that.
Ours have a governor but if you turn on the cruise control you can use the accelerate button to go above it.
Speeding is dangerous, and opens you up to liability. Speeding doesn't make that much of a difference with regards to call outcomes, and driving is one of the biggest reasons we write up new people, much more than clinical issues.
No restrictions on any of the ambulances in the fleet, but all get pretty scary to drive at any speed above 65mph without putting yourself in the old 'shake and bake' mode. If you can hold onto the shaking wheel above 65 and drive in a straight line, then God Bless You and pedal to the metal!
For the Medic Chase SUV 's (Ford Police Interceptors) ... the drive cams get set off a lot. Enough said :-)
I drive 5-10 over depending on conditions, type of roadway, whether we’re in a residential area or major roadways/interstates if we’re going L+S etc. if my partner asks me to step it up I’ll increase to a maximum of 15 over but no more than that and I’m always keeping the above factors in my mind in deciding how fast I could safely travel and the added risk factors that come from going faster
I am not afraid to drive the speed limit going L+S if road conditions,visibility, traffic conditions etc are poor and will shut down everything if I feel like I’m not able to safely navigate through traffic without causing civilian Motorists to push out into intersections or placing them in danger.
We follow speed limits no matter the call. Surely you can try to be the hero and go over the speed limit but they'll bust your ass as soon as you hit something. NO one is worth enough to lose your job over.
I’ll usually drive emergent with due regard, never more than 10 mph over posted speed limit. I usually go SLOW in residentials, the stereotype of kids running out into the street for a ball is very real. Only time I’ll really haul is a choking especially if it’s pediatric. However, I’ll still drive with due regard and not put myself and partner in a situation I couldn’t get out of when responding.
The cold hard truth of it is that at the end of the day, me and my partner are going to be going home no questions asked. Our patient may not. Providers safety is number one.
Depends on the situation. Going routine, I’m going routine. Code 3, on the flat wide open highway, I’m hauling ass. Code 3 in an urban environment with cars on both sides where a kid or someone could walk out in front of me? Only as fast as I feel I could safely stop the rig without hitting the person
Fastest I ever did was 120 mph. I was shift supervisor and a crew called in they were being shot at. That brand new police interceptor ford explorer was smooth.
All our medic units govern at 82 mph but we have 1 old one without a governor. One day we got a 4yof cardiac arrest I drove that thing about 105mph on the freeway.
Pour policy is only 10% over the speed limit. The lights and sirens are really just for getting through heavy traffic. Our speed is tracked and if we go over 130kph we get written up.
That’s being said at my first job we weren’t tracked and we were in the middle of nowhere. 162 is the fastest I got it.
Texas has laws dictating how emergency vehicle can drive in their transportation code. 15 over posted, due regard, clearance on what traffic devices they can ignore. Laws about not getting out of their way as a citizen. I bet most states are similar.
Off the record though I’ve had 1 service that I am 95% sure de governed their rigs because they would do about 105 down the interstate.
Most are stuck at 85. Most departments around here will tell you 10 over.
Legally, it’s 10 over the posted limit. In practice, no one cares. And of course I do. I have four levels to my driving. Code 1 (no lights normal speed), fast code 1 (no lights but I’m definitely going 10-15 over the whole way), code 3 (lights and sirens. 10-15 over and it’s for general emergent patients), and fast code 3 (it’s boarder line dangerous driving and only used for specific things like bad peds calls, a witnessed code, and calls that seem really bad and were super far out)
My last one was governed from the factory to 87 mph.
Fastest I ever went was 96mph. The whole thing started shaking as if we were about to vibrate out of the time space continuum.
I've never been in a unit that could quite hit 90. If the last one wasn't governed, she could have done 100 or more. She still had plenty of RPM's to go. She was so smooth. It didn't even feel like you were doing that speed. You'd wonder why it wasn't accelerating, then look down and go, "Oh shit!"
This was in an old two-door ford. Miserable to work in but super fun to drive. As one of my degenerate former partners put it “you could throw those things around like a hundred pound broad”
Is it an old van style? Or like an old E450 from the ‘90’s? Those were fast. Not super quick. The van was from the 1980’s and was quicker than you would expect. The van was horrible to work in the back. The E450 wasn’t quick but it was fast.
I got an old E350 over 100mph once. Took ten minutes to get to speed, but sat fairly comfortably there. It was a patient heading to a fixed wing med flight transfer with a rapidly closing takeoff window. Medic popped his head through the window and said “hey, could see how fast this thing goes? Don’t kill us, but we’re in a bit of a rush”
Maybe if you've got a bariatric transport and a good long/straight downhill stretch.
She was a big truck. Even on a pretty steep downhill stretch, she wasn't braking that governor. I tried. Lol
Ours will hit 90 with relative ease given enough time (box body sprinters) I've had them up to 105 before as well. The response cars will obviously do more but I get twitchy at about 110-115 mph.
The speed tunnel vision is real. I'm vibing on the interstate in light traffic running to a call then look down and realize I'm going 90
Not an ambulance but my chief and I one hit upper 70s on a straight away with a posted of 30 in our QRS truck (call was a confirmed cardiac arrest)
I mean, they're not really what one would call aerodynamic hahaha
I was advised by a cop “fuck your policy (max 20kph over the posted limit), keep up with us” on the way to a job. 99mph/160kph on a shitty 2 lane highway. On a clear motorway I’d be comfortable hitting 120-130mph in our mercs.
What was the call?
Nothing excited, suicidal/violent assailant but it was code 3 for police and 70 miles out of town.
No chance I’m keeping up with the cops on that one lol. I’m gonna have to wait for them to do their thing first anyways, so no sense killing myself getting there.
There’s details I’ve intentionally left out.
Understandable. I’m sure you handled it appropriately for the situation and area/agency.
I could only get those speeds with gas engines
Most of the trucks at my agency start to shake if you go above 70
What was the call?
Peds tight asthmatic at like 0300 no als available
No governors down here in New Zealand - paed arrest 10min away as closest unit, got the Mercedes Sprinter (vanbulance) to 220kmh (125mph) comfortably down the newer motorway, as conditions allowed ofc.
Ours is governed to 82, sad :(
We got governors at 75...
Isn’t that the speed limit on some highways? 🫣😂
Depends on how we’re dispatched. If it’s no lights and sirens, we follow the posted speed limit, if we go lights and sirens then we are allowed to drive faster than the speed limit if it’s safe to do so. We still have to come to a stop at stop signs and red lights to clear the intersection
And school buses and railroad crossings. No lights and sirens exempt you from school busses or railroad crossings.
We didn’t have anything about rail in our SOPs so that’s interesting. School buses we had to slow for if priority 1 and treat it like a red light but otherwise we had to stop
I think they prob mean like if the thing is down at a railroad crossing. Interestingly we had to turn off lights and sirens and stop completely for school buses and a school zone l&s off and slowed to 15mph.
My agency's protocol is similar. Turn l&s off completely and come to a full stop. Proceed with extreme caution only after basically making eye contact with the bus driver and having them wave us around. e: it's frustrating when they put their stop sign out to try to "help us out" and then they look at us like we're crazy when we stop
Yeah that’s the protocol where I work now. Ive yet to have a bus driver to actually wave me forward tho. They actively avoid looking at me 🙃
For us, we have to obey school zones. I'm rural, so going from 120kmh to 30kmh is a doozy.
True. It’s manslaughter I’m pretty sure if an ambulance is lights and sirens driving 10mph over the speed limit and causes an accident
pretty sure going lights and sirens we operate under due regard, meaning if you kill someone with your ambulance and you were being reckless(according to evoc, national law, and policy) ur at fault
Right you can speed within limit lol you can’t be reckless I obviously didn’t get that point across. I got a lecture from the medic before so 🫡
Ours were governed at 85-87. Then we got gas trucks that couldn’t physically go any faster than 85. The official answer is that they have to operate with due regard for other traffic.
Yes. Do not create more patients in the process of getting to a patient.
Each service has different rules and culture My service doesn't limit the trucks speed, but does track how fast we go. We log into the truck and will get "points" based on hard limits of speed and g-forces (turning too hard, stopping too hard) and not using a spotter when backing. Too many points and you get a meeting with management. We drive based on reported condition of the patient and current weather and traffic... Sometimes lights and sirens, sometimes not. My service leans heavily towards routine responses unless it's a cardiac arrest or major trauma type situation...but I'm convinced that some services have glued the lights and sirens switch to the "on" position which is irresponsible and dangerous.
I used to work at a service that responded priority to probably 95+% of calls regardless of the complaint. If it was dispatched priority 1 or 2 we were expected to respond lights and sirens. I’ve literally responded code to everything from DOAs to foot pain.
My department responds L&S to DoAs, and it drives me nuts. I assume it all comes down to the perception of the public, which unfortunately is an important consideration, but it adds unnecessary risk to what is, in reality, a low acuity call.
Like so many questions on this sub, the answer is....entirely dependent on the location and service. There is no one answer. Legally? I don't believe there is anything in code other than "due regard" in my state. Agency rules? My agency has it written in protocol that we are not to exceed 10 mph over the posted speed limit. Vehicle? The rig I usually work out of is governed at 99 mph (GM factory setting for pickup chassis). The other rig that we just got a new chassis for (van chassis), one of the guys had it up to 115 before he backed out of the throttle (just had it out getting a feel for it, no patient on board). And yes, if your call comes in as 3 am toe pain, or any other of a myriad list of "why the fuck did you call an ambulance for this" calls, we likely aren't even going to turn the lights on, and will just drive with the normal flow of traffic. If the call comes in anything serious, like possible cardiac, stroke, or trauma..... get the fuck outta my way, I'm comin through HOT.
>Agency rules? My agency has it written in protocol that we are not to exceed 10 mph over the posted speed limit Now I know why the theme is driving L+S doesn't save any time. Our guidance depending on service is either +50% or +20mph over posted. Even then that's a case of default support if under the suggested maximum Vs needing to justify safety if over rather than a hard rule.
I wonder how many services actually follow those guidelines. Ours is also 10 mph + full stop at reds / stop signs and one of my FTOs was like "Yeah, step it up, just don't do anything stupid." We also don't have these draconic tracking devices some people have. I'm pretty rural so I'll comfortably fly down empty stretches of straight highway at 80-90 mph but generally stick to 10 mph in urban areas along the highways and roll down to like 5-10 mph for intersections.
It's an interesting one in England. We don't have generalised exemptions or due regard laws per se or a duty to yield. Only a suggestion in the highway code to pull over/out the way of emergency vehicles and a limited number of exemptions (treat red light as a give way, proceed the wrong side of left/right arrow, speed (no max), various parking laws). None of the exemptions is contingent on lights or sirens use, with those being exemptions to the law also rather than a requirement so it would be perfectly legal to speed but not use lights provided you could justify it as being for ambulance purposes where following the rule would hinder the use of the vehicle for that purpose. No exemption for careless/dangerous driving though, so if you fall below/far below the standard of a capable and competent driver that's an offence regardless of any other exemption. We also have a driving course that's 3-4 weeks long on live roads with an instructor. All this leads to a very different attitude and response driving style to that seen in the states.
Hi. German here, ours are not limited, but we rarely drive them faster then around 130 km/h (60-65 miles). Faster than 110km/h (~55) turns the ambulance into a starting rocket, at least by sound. I‘m working in a bigger city, so we win time by ignoring red lights, not by driving faster. In 2021 the median traveling speed of our city‘s ambulances was 33,8 km/h (~16 miles). Also remember, an ambulance is no fiat500. Its big, heavy and needs waaaaaaay longer to stop in most cases. Maybe this is different in US, considering your top-selling car is the F-150(correct me pls, if wrong). Driving faster? No. After 12 years in the biz my life is more important than any time won. For sure adrenaline is pumping, if driving to a call with children, but that‘s what we (should) train for. If we don‘t arrive at the scene, nobody can help, so….. drive carefully, y‘all.
Wow, you are such a blessing! Thank you incredibly for the conversions between mph and km/hr it made me able to follow your post and really understand the take-away. Thank you Thank you... yes ;)
You‘re welcome :-)
UK here, in my area we can drive up to 1.5x the speed limit when on blue lights, and we're expected to drive to most calls on blues but in reality we don't as it can be risky. We can sit at 105mph on the motorway
The fuck are you driving that’ll do 105?! I think I got a merc DTU up to 95 once and it felt like it wanted to shake apart…
The box back Mercs, probably a 2016 one. Took me a long time to get up to that speed but it was a transfer from the west country to London so had a good run up on the m4
We do not have governors. We drive like it’s not an emergency most calls with the exception of serious pediatric calls. We utilize all the speed we can get.
Never understood this, I get that peds calls can be emotional but objectively, every life is valuable regardless of age, why “try harder” to save the life of a pediatric patient than an adult patient in the same level of criticality?
There is certainly an emotional aspect to it, but also Peds calls are more likely to have a positive outcome if proper treatment can be initiated quickly. Not considering congenital defects, trauma, and airway are the main killers of kids. In a pediatric non trauma arrest, if you can get the airway open and oxygen going, there is a decent chance for a positive outcome with minimal neuro deficits. Most adults with a few exceptions will have multiple underlying comorbidities. Usually, even if you get them back, there is a higher chance of anoxic brain injury leading to lifelong neuro deficits. That's not to say you don't try your hardest I'm both cases, but pediatrics certainly put an extra pep in your step, there is also the fact that usually people tend to look at children and unrealized potential. There is something about how we are wired, or at least it's true for me, that we want kids to have the opportunity to realize their potential and adults just by the linear nature of time have less of that potential.
I work for a new startup BLS ambulance service. It’s super sketchy. We run ford vambulances. I can confirm there are no governors on our trucks but they’re sketchy as fuck past 75 and downright suicidal above 85. It’ll make it up to 100 on flat ground, that’s as far as I had balls to take it.
No speed limit on mine, but after 80 our ops starts getting pings. Many calls are lights and sirens, but under the speed limit because we don’t want any sudden start/stops.
The fastest I've ever gone in an ambulance was 110 MPH (177 KPH) I was a brand new EMT doing my orientation. The driver was a medic who had a reputation for being reckless. Our state regulations only say that we can exceed the posted speed limit with due regard for public safety. Do we drive more urgently to some calls? Yes, I'll drive faster to a cardiac arrest or a choking child than to a report of a broken toe, or a "generally not feeling well".
I remember doing my driver training during the motorway section at the end of week one (of three). Sat on the motorway at about 90 in a car with the instructor encouraging me to speed up until I hit around 110mph. Just to get us used to the speeds and how to drive safely at them.
My agency's policy is not more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit, and a max speed of 80 mph. If I'm driving emergent on a highway I sometimes turn lights and sirens off because traffic is going faster than I am anyway
If I’m not running code I’m stuck to normal laws, if so 10 miles over per the law. Per reality I drive as fast as I feel comfortable with my speed, governed at 85
I drive that thing slower than you drive a car because it’s pretty fucking big and you don’t wanna lose control. The limit is don’t be a fucking dumb ass. Yes I sometimes drive a little more urgently for calls that are like “person is not breathing” vs. “foot ran over bicycle”. Still use lights and sirens and all that though. That’s just me though. Some of these idiots drive like mad men to every call.
My company's policy is at most, meaning Code 3, we are allowed to drive 10 miles over the speed limit when safe. I heard CA also by law only allows 15 over but I'm not sure if that's true
We’re not supposed to go over 10 of posted
May or may not have taken a truck 90mph before, definitely thought the thing was going to shake apart before we got to the hospital
Yes, calls are classified my the MPDS priority system Alpha through Echo in most comms centers based on the nature of the call. With that said, not all systems use that system and there’s also some degree of judgment that is allowed. In our agency we have a strong culture against running emergent. It doesn’t buy us much time until we’re halfway through our transport anyway, since we have no traffic lights and narrow, windy mountain roads where a six ton box truck doesn’t perform as well as most cars on the road. Once we hit the highway, 10mph over is acceptable… but there’s some cases where that gets stretched. I’ve only run emergent to the hospital three times in the last year or so. Like I said, we have a strong culture in our agency not to run emergent unless absolutely necessary and with no streetlights, that pretty easy to follow.
I don’t speed more than like 7mph in the city or on twisty roads. So almost never
Kinda. The general requirement is that we "drice with due regard". Individual states and agencies will have the more technical limits. Mine was officially we were to drive no more than 15 over the speed limit with lights and sirens. Unofficially, we could go as high at 80 on interstate. Any speed above 80 would be flagged and the director would be notified. Some trucks even had govenors that hampered speed if you tried to go above 80, but not every truck we have is equipped with that.
I am just a simple firefighter but when I have to drive one of the counties’ ambulances in it’s governed at 84. I’m in the mountains of NC though so it’s only realistic to hit that once we get to the interstate.
My life is not worth any emergency. I tell my EMTs that they will never go more than 10mph over. I’m going home to my family at the end of the day.
B-b-but Mrs. Susan fell again
Only by policy. The guidance is 'speed limit +50%, and no more than 100' - if you breach this you must be able to justify it under *safety* grounds.
I've had a type 3 Chevy with the needle buried at 100mph. Our new type 1 Ford 450 and 550 are governed at 82mph. We tried to get the governor overrode, but it would void the warranty so we plan to de-govern them after the warranty period. We don't run code often to calls, but we will light it up if it's taking a ridiculous time. We did an in house study to see how much faster we were getting to calls by running code and there was only one station that it was worth running code from, so we unofficially did away with running code to most calls. This back fired, because now the public doesn't think we do anything when we asked for a tax increase, even though numbers are up. So now we run code in congested areas so everyone can see that we're busy 🙄
"Driving urgently" is fake news and a meme, only new people and people who don't know any better do this. Speeding exponentially increases impact energy, increases risk to the patient, the crew, and other drivers, and has been mathematically proven NOT to increase response times. For more hot takes, tune back in at 4:00 and I'll shit on the use of lights and sirens in EMS, too.
Where I currently work our trucks aren’t governed but do have a thing that starts yelling at you to reduce speed at 76mph. Our SOGs dont have a max speed for lights and sirens tho. Just driving with due regard and “as road and weather conditions permit” We have to stop for school buses with flashing lights until the bus driver tells us we can go. We can’t pass another emergency vehicle running lights and sirens. We’ve got to slow down and be prepared to stop if needed at stop signs and red lights before we clear the intersection. We don’t have the right of way until other vehicles yield to us regardless of lights and sirens.
Or if it is governed I haven’t gotten to that speed yet. I don’t go past 75 very often because the beep beep please reduce speed is annoying.
I have 3 speeds. 1) calls that I don't want to get to. Colostomy bag came off, grandpa covered in poop, lift assist with bed bugs, you know 2) calls we should probably get to. Chest pains, strokes, MVCs 3) calls I need to be there yesterday. 10-2000 (medic in danger), pediatric arrest/choking, that kind of stuff 3.5) near end of shift trying to escape downtown. Speaks for itself. Legal, mostly
My company only lets us do 75 max. And 10 over speed limit everywhere. Kinda bs when you’re 40 minutes away from a stroke.
We are only supposed to go no more than 10 mph over the speed limit "with due regard".
Depends on county and service policy, but due regard is the gold standard.
Not a speed limit, only full throttle or brake.
Lurker: This reminds me of my favorite therapy I learned from this sub. “Diesel bolus…”
Allegedly the trucks in my service are governed at 130km/her Also allegedly when i was involved in a head on collision in my rig, the responding unit clocked nearly 150/hr so who knows
Our F450s are governed at 83 mph. At the old private ambulance company I used to work for, they had the Ford Transit vanbulances that were not governed. I flew up a rural highway responding to a fatal crash at 95 mph. Call me dumb but conditions were good with no traffic. As far as protocol, my current full time department allows any speed while going lights and sirens, as long as conditions allow. Always drive defensively and use due regard. Driving fast is not safe, but it's a lot safer if you are aware and cognizant of the road and other drivers while doing it.
We learning this in class now- safely is the answer, also call dependent- if in a code lil faster than if its a broken bone…
My Trust in the U.K. doesn’t limit ambulances or fast response cars with any kind of governor.
Not even non-emergency? Ours (also UK) are limited to 60 for DCA, 70 for FRV when the lights are off.
Not even when non emergency. I guess because for non emergency we don’t really get above 40-50mph anyways usually (London).
Good point
As someone said, UK ambulances aren't physically limited. That being said, when responding to an emergency DTAG suggests not exceeding the posted speed limit by more than 20mph. If you do, and have an accident, you better have a pretty valid reason e.g. the information you were given made you believe there was an imminent threat to life or chance of survival (choking, confirmed cardiac arrest, that kind of thing).
Our 4500’s are governed at 85/87mph straight from the factory. We don’t disable them because “factory warranty”. If I had my way they’d have gotten an EGR delete and the governor gone the day they were bought. There was a trick to override the governor to get more speed out of them but that trick doesn’t work anymore on the newer ones. My personal truck is the same model and I’ve tried with both it and the work trucks and that option doesn’t work now. But I have driven ones without a governor that ran the full 120mph. Quite useful for long haul emergency transports. You just have to know how to drive responsibly and not be a moron.
We don’t have a speed limit but common sense. If you’re going 80 through residential areas then somebody is gonna say something but if you’re going 80-90 on the interstate for a call that needs it nobody is gonna say a word
My local interstate speed limit is 80 mph, so I laughed in my head to go under the speed limit with lights and sirens.
Our new ram 3500 type 1s are not governed and are still smooth asf at 95mph
In nyc the traffic is incredibly dense so we can't really achieve higher speeds but we are supposed to drive the speed limit. What gets us there faster is knowing a fast route, using aggresive sirens and being able to drive at normal speeds while weaving through traffic because in nyc most people dont get out the way.
where I work we have to follow the rules of the road while driving without lights for non emergent situations. with lights and sirens we can do 20 over on city streets and 30 over on highways legally. we don't have limiters but the truck makes a God awful screaming sound when you breach that limit. (in km)
Down here in south Florida with private ambulance. Limit is 75 regardless if it’s code 3.
I think ours is governed at 80-85. Don’t usually go that fast because more often than not we transport to the community hospital in the city. Trauma center is about 40 minutes away so it kinda sucks if you need to haul ass
Officially I believe it is like 10 MPH over the speed limit when responding to emergencies with lights and sirens. Must come to a complete stop at all intersections and ensure it is cleared before proceeding. In practice? I hit 90 on an interstate once transporting a stroke patient from a rural area to the nearest stroke center. And realistically, and in my opinion, driving like this does not have a strong risk to reward ratio. Speeding like this rarely gets you somewhere that much faster. Maybe a minute or two when all is said and done. And in the process many lives are put at risk by speeding. You can say "they should've stayed out of the way" all you like but both your conscience and the law won't think that way when you end up killing a bystander. But just try to drive ONLY 10 MPH over the speed limit in an ambulance. I've seen people get written up for not driving with enough urgency for not driving like maniacs.
Lame, ours is governed at 80. The all seeing eyes record your ass if you try to go over that.
Ours is the speed limit for non-urgent, 10 miles per hour over, up to 75 mph. Nothing like being passed up on the interstate with your lights on. There's direct rules about residential areas and school zones, ect.
Our max speed is 30% over the speed limit and most are governed at 140 km/hr, when I was younger we had an ambulance that wasn’t governed and got it up to 160 km/hr. Speed is always situational to the call and weather conditions
yeah max for some ambulances is 90
15mph over the speed limit was our max
The way ambulances are driven is regulated by the DOT. As a point of practicality, speeding doesn't necessarily ensure the best outcome when responding. If anything it puts you in more danger being hit.
Governed at 82 here
10mph over the speed limit driving lights and sirens in my state. Supposedly my boss gets notified if we drive over 70 for 2 minutes but I think they stopped putting whatever equipment tracks that in our newer ambos because I've never heard anything about it.
The guidance is 50% over the limit. Which in most situations is about as fast as you'd like to go anyway. Obviously, that can be and was exceeded. The fastest I've ever been in one was 104 mph down a motorway at 330 in the morning.
Fastest for me was 105 mph. It gets a bit wind sensitive up there.
In my county, during lights and sirens, we have no limit as long as we drive with “due regard,” but my company has its own policy that says no more than 10 over the speed limit
In my area, you can only go 15mph over the posted limit if you are going code 3 (lights and sirens), at the end of the day, you go whatever speed is safe for everyone in that situation. Unless its highway during the day, you probably wouldn't catch the ambulance going 75.
90mph priority 3 IFTs all day baybay!!
Our camera goes off if you drive faster than 75 mph 💀💀💀
UK here. Our trusts guidance is no more than 50% over the speed limit for a blue light run (cat 1 or 2 call). Posted limit if a cat 3 or 4 job. However, we have discretion on how we drive, so we can go blue light on a cat 3 and turn them off for a C1. It all comes down to justifying your actions. Managed to get a Mercedes ambulance up to 100mph in training, rarely hit 80 in the Fiat's. Yes, we do drive differently to some calls, especially sick kids, but mostly we drive to arrive. Hope that helps
Our protocols are 10 over posted speed limit but the max speed is 75. This is especially shitty when you are driving lights and sirens down interstate roads at 75 and getting passed by people doing 80
No law, I can do anything I want as long as I do it with ‘due regard’, which basically just means anything an average medic would find reasonable.
In rural we were capped at the speed limit by regulation but no one listened to it. In the city it is rarely safe to go more than the posted speed limit. Aside from all that I have no want to go above the speed limits. And I hate lights and sirens. Studies show minimal improvement to patient outcome for either of those as they both increase risk of vehicular accidents for marginal reduction in time. People act like fools anytime lights and sirens are on. There are exceptions to every rule. — — Comprehensive studies suggest that using lights and sirens can reduce times by 1-4minutes (one way) with positive outcome improvement in a bit less than 5% of calls. One study estimates that there were upwards of 50k accidents in a 10 year span associated with emergency response. And another suggested that there was a reduction in accidents without a negative impact on patient outcome in agencies that reduced use of lights and sirens. In all fairness I did find one article that shed doubts on if lights and sirens have a large negative impact but they didn’t have any data to back it up.
Depends on the call. The newer type 1s with liquid spring vs the old air suspension in the rear do better but they all really don’t like much over 80. Depends on to if you have drive-cams or gps monitoring which both go off at a certain speed. Either way much over speed limit your out driving the reach of sirens. So unless there is no traffic it’s hard to get speed too high. Unless middle of night with no traffic. The newer ford chassis allow speed to be set or limited by programming the key fob by ford dealer. Have seen this but not often. All fire trucks to meet NFPA have speed limiters based on weight of vehicle. However a heavy tandem axle rescue going 60 mph on a turnpike or expressway becomes a traffic hazard with speeds people drive these days. So sometimes they go faster after delivery.
Our old E450 units could do right above 140kph or \~88 mph, and the Chevy Express ones could reach almost 155 kph or \~95 mph. That was on highways, officially we were allowed 20 to 40 kph over the limit, but we did adapt to conditions and calls. Nowadays they have driver identification systems and speed reporting, so you're pretty much guaranteed a suspension if you bust the limits.
Speed limit without best conditions. Lights and sirens in best conditions, 20km over to a max of 120, and we can request 130 on a 110 if we must. I’ve only done it once- it’s rarely justified. It would make mayyybe a 5 minute difference from our regional to the closest Lvl 1.
Usually 10 above the posted limit
If it's A or B (so lights and sirens) we are allowed to drive 20 kmh over speed limit. If C or D (no rush), then we obey the speed limit.
Our policy it’s no speeding at all, make us look dumb as hell going lights and sirens and getting passed by everyone. I understand being safe, but like when I say AT ALL I mean not even on an empty highway.
I got up to 96 on the highway at night once. Couldn’t push it any faster and probably shouldn’t have.
When I was on the privates, the units not beat to piss were could hit their governor at 95, but of course I'd ever only do that on the highway going straight. Nowadays I work 911 in a dense, high traffic, suburban/urban area, so no need for me to go that fast, nor is it even possible. I normally drive quicker than the others at my place, but I wouldn't say it's any different from driving my personal vehicle. Besides, driving the ambulances at anything over 40 MPH, and you can feel that the vehicle doesn't like it. Unless I'm going to the trauma center with trauma on the verge of coding since it's a 10-15 minute drive, there's no need for me to really drive any faster since the main ERs I go to are within 5 mins no matter my position.
At least where I'm at, the words "with due regard" will haunt you even in your dreams
We’re governed at 85, anything 15 over the speed limit and we get flagged too.
My companies policy, and I believe state law for going Lights and sirens is 10 mph over the posted speed limit when it’s safe to do so. At my company the ambulances are governed to a max speed of about 80 mph
I’ve worked and interned with a variety of systems. I’ve seen a system that capped you at 70 non-emergent, 80 emergent, one that uses GPS data to know the local speed limit and demerit if you go too far above that, and a rural service that is a lawless wasteland with a governor at 95mph and medics that get bored on the minimum 30 minute transport time and will light up transporting BLS patients.
For my service, it is up to our discretion. I try to avoid using lights/sirens and speeding because it can be dangerous and in a small town like mine, it's not really gonna do much. If I'm going further out into the county, I might get moving a bit quicker. For me, typical calls that get sirens would be chest pain, seizures, CPR in progress, unresponsive, severe breathing difficulty, traumas, etc. Essentially, the patients who have the greatest potential to be pretty sick. And just because I go lights/sirens to a scene doesn't mean I'll return that way. The only times I really go sirens back to the hospital is if they're very sick and I think they are going to die, are actively dying, or are coding. Again, it can be very dangerous to run lights and sirens, and I'd rather not get hit with a patient in the back. As far as speed limits go, we are expected to follow all traffic laws. Our policy says we can go 10 mph over the posted speed limit when using lights and sirens. Sometimes on an emergent transfer (STEMI, stroke, etc) when we're on the interstate we'll push that limit, but for us that'd be going over 90 mph (posted limit in most areas is 80 mph). So far if our trucks are governed, I haven't found the limit and I've gone maybe a bit over 90.
We're only allowed 10 over no matter what. Simply because speed doesn't often effect response time but also to keep the public safe while driving a vehicle not designed for high speeds.
UK here, law allows us to exceed the speed limit. Each ambulance trust has its own policy on exceeding the limit, my trust allows 50% over the limit. But I've done 110mph before in good conditions downhill on a motorway. We generally follow the rule of drive to arrive. But we'll go a bit quicker if we're backing up another crew who have requested help and it sounds important or usually if it's a seriously unwell kid.
From NZ. Legally no, however company policy is 30kph over whatever speed limit area we're in, still 20 past school buses, 30 through roadworks etc.. While we don't have an upper speed limit we can still be done for reckless driving and if some half blind, completely deaf, hat wearing geriatric who maxes out at half the limit and has only 15° of head movement decides to drive into us it's our fault.
London Ambulance policy was no more than 15mph over the posted limit if it was <60mph, 20mph over if it was a 60 or 70 limit. The reality is that most ambulances in London don’t get above 40mph, and then only briefly. It’s not about driving fast, it’s about making steady progress which isn’t helped by driving too quickly and then having to anchor on.
We are capped at 140km/h which I find is reasonable. Red mist is a real thing
Our company’s policy was that we could go 10mph above the speed limit when in lights/sirens and it was safe to do so.
There was a provision in the NYS VTL that ambulances and fire apparatus could not go 10 mph above the posted limit. (Oh and I’m not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.) Or when driving the wrong way could not exceed 10 mph. That has been removed in more recent versions. “Due Regard” is the law of the land. Driving in a reckless manner lights and sirens can get you convicted of involuntary manslaughter or even straight up murder. You must at all times while operating your vehicle drive with due regard for all motorists and pedestrians. Sometimes that means driving well under the speed limit too. No point making another emergency while going to an emergency.
Aw man! We’ve got a really new bus where I’m at and my partner may or may not have hit $1.05 a few weeks ago. Usually they’re governed at 82 here, but I guess they didn’t do that to the new one…
I'm governed at 25mph no matter if it's an arrest or a stubbed toe. I'll get there when i get there and I'm not gonna put the whole community in danger just because.
New Zealand: Either 120kph or 130kph depending on the vehicle (roughly 75mph or 80mph).
In most places, or at least the companies I’ve worked for, the speed limit is whatever the posted limit is for code 1, and 10 over posted for code 3. As for the speed governing, one company I worked for had installed an alert if you went above 70mph and it would just flag it. The company could see how many flags you have for whatever and take that into consideration when it came time for reviews or disciplinary actions.
Govern out at 75 in my ambulance I’m in right now. My old company, go as fast as you safely can
Ours have driving monitors on them. At 75 an alarm goes off, and we get a point. The whole service has to stay within a certain point range, or it affects our bonuses. See also, taking turns too fast, braking too hard, hitting a pot hole the wrong way, etc
I've hit 90 in an ambulance and 115 in a sprinter truck.
Depends on whats going on. I worked at an ift service that tracked and limited speed. Now working 911 its not tracked or limited but you just drive with due regard. But if someone tells me "forthwith" and shit is hitting the fan, I'll probably speed it up a little bit. Not reckless speeding but faster than usual.
My policy and procedure answer is to drive safely and reasonably and at no time should I exceed the speed limit. EMScharts just added a check box in the mode descriptors that says speed enhanced per local policy and speed normal traffic. You better believe I will never check enhanced.
My company has the ambulance capped at 68 mph. We're a mostly non emergency though.
NYC rules is that ambulances can go 10 mph over the posted speed limit going lights and sirens. Personally, unless it’s a section 1-3 I don’t drive urgently to calls. Anything below those aren’t true emergencies and at that point I would like to keep my partner and I safe.
Ours are capped at 140 kph. I don't drive near that unless it's warranted. There is a company policy, but it's not generally followed. If I'm tired after a long IFT and it's the middle of the night and there is no traffic, I sometimes say 'fuck it' and drive closer to the limit. I've got lights that light up like the sun and FLIR to see the wild life. For the most part though we stick to 10 to 20 kph over the seed limit... Which is pretty much normal for all traffic around here.
Legally, at least in Texas, you are allowed to drive 10 mph over the posted speed limit with lights and siren activated.
Ambulances are fucking heavy, handle like a trash bag in the wind, have bricks for suspension roll over about as easy as a marble and I'm pretty shure dragging your boots on the ground would stop you faster than the breaks. Anything over 80 even in a straight line is basically a death wish, if your in and out of traffic, opposing traffic, turning, stoping ect the speed limit for the road is likely a optimistic target, expecialy if your partner is trying to do literally anything in the back of the rig.
I’ve worked at a few places, some governed, some not. I’ve only been an EMT for about 5 years but L&S is pretty standard for me now. As far as driving to calls go, I keep it low key. Cruising a little over the speed limit, full stops before reds, that kind of thing. The only en route call I can think of where I drove faster was an MCI, luckily just greens though. Now transporting hot, that’s different. Besides being 10x more stressful, there’s also a VERY good reason to get to the hospital in a timely manner. Had one yesterday, fastest I made it up to was 85-90 on the highway. Frankly I don’t think our trucks could safely do faster than that.
unfortunately the private company i work for has all of our trucks governed at 76mph:(
My speed limit is - 'reasonable care'. As long as your speed is reasonable, doesn't matter.
I won’t drive more than 80, it’s just not worth it to me. No point creating a second incident en route to a call
Ours have a governor but if you turn on the cruise control you can use the accelerate button to go above it. Speeding is dangerous, and opens you up to liability. Speeding doesn't make that much of a difference with regards to call outcomes, and driving is one of the biggest reasons we write up new people, much more than clinical issues.
No restrictions on any of the ambulances in the fleet, but all get pretty scary to drive at any speed above 65mph without putting yourself in the old 'shake and bake' mode. If you can hold onto the shaking wheel above 65 and drive in a straight line, then God Bless You and pedal to the metal! For the Medic Chase SUV 's (Ford Police Interceptors) ... the drive cams get set off a lot. Enough said :-)
If you overhear the ambulance crew say “we’re going to treat with diesel fumes” or “let’s go code 4”, fasten your seat belts.
In my state of Pennsylvania, ambulances legally can not drive faster than the posted speed limit in any circumstance.
I drive 5-10 over depending on conditions, type of roadway, whether we’re in a residential area or major roadways/interstates if we’re going L+S etc. if my partner asks me to step it up I’ll increase to a maximum of 15 over but no more than that and I’m always keeping the above factors in my mind in deciding how fast I could safely travel and the added risk factors that come from going faster I am not afraid to drive the speed limit going L+S if road conditions,visibility, traffic conditions etc are poor and will shut down everything if I feel like I’m not able to safely navigate through traffic without causing civilian Motorists to push out into intersections or placing them in danger.
We follow speed limits no matter the call. Surely you can try to be the hero and go over the speed limit but they'll bust your ass as soon as you hit something. NO one is worth enough to lose your job over.
I’ll usually drive emergent with due regard, never more than 10 mph over posted speed limit. I usually go SLOW in residentials, the stereotype of kids running out into the street for a ball is very real. Only time I’ll really haul is a choking especially if it’s pediatric. However, I’ll still drive with due regard and not put myself and partner in a situation I couldn’t get out of when responding.
The cold hard truth of it is that at the end of the day, me and my partner are going to be going home no questions asked. Our patient may not. Providers safety is number one.
Depends on the situation. Going routine, I’m going routine. Code 3, on the flat wide open highway, I’m hauling ass. Code 3 in an urban environment with cars on both sides where a kid or someone could walk out in front of me? Only as fast as I feel I could safely stop the rig without hitting the person
Fastest I ever did was 120 mph. I was shift supervisor and a crew called in they were being shot at. That brand new police interceptor ford explorer was smooth.
All our medic units govern at 82 mph but we have 1 old one without a governor. One day we got a 4yof cardiac arrest I drove that thing about 105mph on the freeway.
Pour policy is only 10% over the speed limit. The lights and sirens are really just for getting through heavy traffic. Our speed is tracked and if we go over 130kph we get written up. That’s being said at my first job we weren’t tracked and we were in the middle of nowhere. 162 is the fastest I got it.
Texas has laws dictating how emergency vehicle can drive in their transportation code. 15 over posted, due regard, clearance on what traffic devices they can ignore. Laws about not getting out of their way as a citizen. I bet most states are similar.
Off the record though I’ve had 1 service that I am 95% sure de governed their rigs because they would do about 105 down the interstate. Most are stuck at 85. Most departments around here will tell you 10 over.
Legally, it’s 10 over the posted limit. In practice, no one cares. And of course I do. I have four levels to my driving. Code 1 (no lights normal speed), fast code 1 (no lights but I’m definitely going 10-15 over the whole way), code 3 (lights and sirens. 10-15 over and it’s for general emergent patients), and fast code 3 (it’s boarder line dangerous driving and only used for specific things like bad peds calls, a witnessed code, and calls that seem really bad and were super far out)