Speed humps delay ambulances

This article was published many years ago, but it seems unlikely that ambulances have suddenly become able to deal with the humps, road closures and road narrowing.

Speed humps threat to lives, says ambulance chief

"The head of Britain's biggest ambulance service has called for a review of speed humps after claiming they put patients lives in danger.

Sigurd Reinton, chairman of the London Ambulance Service, said traffic calming measures put hundreds of people at risk by slowing emergency response times.

He said the number of lives put at risk far outweighed those saved by speed humps reducing accidents and slowing vehicle speeds.

Plummeting road speeds in the capital meant London Ambulance Service had to work harder to reach the most seriously ill patients in its eight minute target time.

Mr Reinton said up to 65% more ambulances were needed than in 1995 to ensure crews could get to people on time. Meanwhile a reduction of one minute on average response times could save up to 500 more lives a year, he said.

Mr Reinton said: "We have made tremendous improvements in recent years, and in November achieved the Government's standard of reaching 75% of Category A calls in eight minutes."But I am convinced that we could save even more lives if the traffic was flowing better.The situation is about more than just road humps - our ambulances also have to slow down for chicanes and width barriers, often to just walking pace.The fact that side streets have been shut off also has an impact as we then get caught up in the increased traffic on other routes."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-156971/Speed-humps-threat-lives-says-ambulance-chief.html#ixzz4DS1eRSNM Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook