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Operations & systems
Lights and sirens save only ~3 minutes
The Estimated Benefit of Lights and Sirens During Ambulance Transport
Prehospital Emergency Care · Added 26 April 2026
This study used a modern transport model to estimate whether lights and sirens save time, and it found a median gain of only 3.0 to 3.3 minutes per trip, which likely does not justify the known driving risks except in selected cases.
- Study type
- Cohort
- Design
- Observational study comparing actual emergent trips with modelled non-emergent trip durations
- Participants
- 25,902 incidents, 21.0% transported with lights and sirens
- Main finding
- Lights and sirens were associated with a median trip duration saving of 3.0 min (95% CI 2.9–3.1), or 3.3 min in spatially aggregated analysis, and 0.3 min/km faster pace
- Caveat
- Modelled non-emergent comparisons in a single US EMS system; median benefit may hide variation by case type
- Bottom line
- Supports current practice
Learning goal
Understand when the modest time saved by lights and sirens transport justifies the added road safety risk.
More
- Topic: Operations & systems
- Daily scan: 26 April 2026
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