NCJ Number
197216
Date Published
2002
Length
59 pages
Annotation
This report is intended to provide the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Division of Highway Safety, and other State and local authorities with 2001 data and information on the problem of emergency service vehicle crashes in the State.
Abstract
The primary data source was the Missouri Statewide Traffic Accident Records System (STARS). In 2001 there were 1,639 Missouri traffic crashes that involved 1,691 emergency service vehicles. Seven persons were killed, and 517 persons were injured in these crashes. Of the emergency service vehicles involved in these crashes, 333 (19.7 percent) were on an emergency run at the time of the crash. The seriousness of these traffic crashes was compounded by the delay or prevention of the emergency unit from reaching the site of the emergency. Police vehicles accounted for the majority (82 percent) of emergency service vehicles involved in the traffic crashes. A total of 119 (7 percent) of the 1,691 emergency vehicles involved in 2001 traffic crashes in Missouri were ambulances. Of the 333 emergency service vehicles involved in traffic crashes while on emergency runs, 37 (11.1 percent) were ambulances. A total of 178 (10.5 percent) of the vehicles in crashes were fire vehicles. Ambulances and fire vehicles composed a higher proportion of those vehicles involved in traffic crashes while on emergency runs (19.2 percent). 46 tables and 14 figures