RESEARCH

Directional Emergency Sirens Ltd has researched and solved the problem of the difficulty in ascertaining the location of approaching emergency service vehicles by listening to the sirens in current use. There are many articles and papers dealing with this matter - perhaps the most comprehensive being the U.S Department of Transport report of 1977. The conclusion reached is that current electronic sirens have poor effectiveness as audible warning devices.

References

1. DeLorenzo RA, Eilers MA: Lights and siren: A review of emergency vehicle warning systems. Ann Emerg Med 1991;20:1331Ð1334. 

2. Elling R: Dispelling myths on ambulance accidents. JEMS 1989;14:60Ð64. 3. Caldwell LH: Hard Lessons. Fire Command 1990;57:20Ð21. 

4. Sharpe D: Ambulance Fatality Accidents for 1988. Presented at the 1990 Canada InterPhase Conference; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 

5. Auerbach PS, Morris JA, Phillips JB Jr, et al: An analysis of ambulance accidents in Tennessee. JAMA 1987;258:1487Ð1490. 

6. AAA Position Statement on EMS Driving- http://www.the-aaa.org/about/positionpapers/safedriving.html May 6, 2002 

7. Becker LR, Zaloshnja E, Levick N, Li G, Miller TR. Relative risk of injury and death in ambulances and other emergency vehicles. Accid Anal Prev. 2003 Nov; 35(6):941-8. 

8. Bledsoe, BE, EMS Myth #4: Lights and sirens save a significant amount of travel time and save lives EMS World – American Military University November, 2003 

9. Brown LH, Whitney CL, et al. Do Warning Lights and Sirens Reduce Ambulance response Times? Prehospital Emergency Care. 2000 Jan-Mar; 4(1): 70-74 

10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ambulance crash-related injuries among emergency medical services workers - United States, 1991-2002. MMWR 2003; 52(8):154-156. 

11. Childs BJ, Ptacnik DJ: Emergency Ambulance Driving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986. 

12. Clawsen JJ, et al. The wake effect: Emergency Vehicle-Related Collisions Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1997;12, No. 4 

13. Clawson JJ, et al, Use of Warning Lights and Siren in Emergency Medical Vehicle Response and Patient Transport NAEMSPA Position Paper Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, April-June 1994, Vol. 9, No. 2 

14. Clawson JJ: Medical priority dispatch. It works! JEMS 1983;8:29-33.
Clawson JJ: The maximal response disease: Red lights and siren syndrome in priority dispatching. JEMS 1987;12:28-31.

15. Clawson, JJ: Running "hot" and the case of Sharron Rose, JEMS 1991; 16:11-13. 

16. Colwell CB, Pons P, Blanchet JH, Mangino C. Claims against a paramedic ambulance service: a ten-year experience. J Emerg Med. 1999 Nov-Dec;17(6):999-1002. 

17. Colwell CB, Pons PT, Pi R. Complaints against an EMS system J Emerg Med. 25(4) 

18. DeLorenzo RA, Eiler MA: Lights and siren: A review of emergency vehicle warning systems. Ann Emerg Med 1991;20:1331-1334. 

19. Elling R: Dispelling myths on ambulance accidents. JEMS 1989;14:60-64. 

20. Harrison, P. High-Conspicuity Livery for Police Vehicles 14-04. Home Office Police Scientific Branch, London, UK 2004. 

21. Ho J, Lindquist M, Time Saved with the Use of Emergency Warning Lights While Responding to Requests for Emergency 

22. Hunt RC, et al. Is Ambulance Transport Time With Lights and Siren Faster Than That Without? Ann Emerg Med 1995, April 

23. Kupas, DF, Dula, DJ,, Pino BJ: Patient outcome using medical protocol to limit "lights and siren" transport. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1994;9:226-229. 

24. Marques-Baptista A, et al. Utilization of Warning Lights and Siren Based on Hospital Time- Critical Interventions Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 2010; Jul-Aug 

25. National Association of Emergency Medical Services Physicians (NAEMSP) and the National Association of State EMS Directors (NAEMSD): Use of warning lights and siren in emergency medical vehicle response and patient transport (position paper). Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 1994,9:133-136. 

26. O’Brien T, Prices M and Adams J. The effectiveness of lights and siren use during ambulance transport by paramedics. Prehospital Emergency Care 3(3) 

27. Public Management in October of 2002 - http://www.emergencydispatch.org/articles/uneslightnsiren.pdf 

28. Quinlavin J: Alive. Emergency 1993;25:29-31,46-48.
Saunders SE and Heye C, Ambulance Collisions in the Urban Environment: Prehospital and 

29. Skeiber SC, Mason RL, Potter RC: Effectiveness of Audible Devices on Emergency Vehicles. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Publication No. DOT-TSC-OST-77-38,1977. 

30. Solomon, S., Hill, P. Emergency Vehicle Accidents. Prevention, reconstruction and a survey of State law. Lawyers and Judges Publishing, 2002 

31. US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Ambulance involvement in fatal crashes by person type of fatalities and crash type, in Fatal Accident 

32. USFA Research Projects: Emergency Vehicles. 

33. Wang HE, Fairbanks RJ, Shah MN, Abo BN, Yealy DM. Tort claims and adverse events in Emergency medical Services. Ann Emerg Med. 2008 Sep;52(3):256-62. 

34. Wolfberg D, Lights, Sirens and Liability Journal of Emergency Medical Service, February 1996