Effect of Speed Humps on Ambulance Delay

Area of Science:

• Traffic Engineering
• Emergency Medical Services

Background:

• Speed humps are traffic calming devices designed to reduce vehicle speeds.
• However, these humps can introduce delays, particularly for emergency vehicles like ambulances.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the delay times experienced by ambulances passing through speed humps.
• To analyze both solo ambulance delays and queue delays caused by other vehicles.

Main Methods:

• Three ambulance types (Van, Multiple Victim Assistance, Bariatric) and three vehicle types were tested on speed humps in Turkey.
• Passing and lost times were measured using a stopwatch and GPS speedometer.
• Vehicles slowed to 15 km/h for safe passage over speed humps.

Main Results:

• Ambulances alone experienced lost times ranging from 8.41 to 16.32 seconds depending on type and speed hump configuration.
• Queue delays occurred when ambulances followed other vehicles, with times reaching up to 54.96 seconds.
• One region without speed humps showed no delay for ambulances.

Conclusions:

• Ambulances incur time losses due to speed humps, both independently and when delayed by traffic queues.
• Higher ambulance speeds correlate with increased lost time, negating the benefit of faster travel.
• The findings highlight the critical impact of speed hump design and placement on emergency response efficiency.