Traffic Calming: Can’t See the Forest for the Trees linked on Editorials

“OHCA survivability is greatly influenced by how quickly emergency medical services (EMS) are administered… the patient’s odds of survival dropped to less than half when the response time increased from within six minutes to ten minutes or more. Obviously, ‘precious seconds’ is not an exaggeration when it comes to EMS response time.

“Yet robbing those seconds from OHCA victims is precisely what traffic calming accomplishes. Lane reductions, speed bumps, chicanes, and other devices used to inhibit traffic have been popularized today as the prescription for slowing travel speeds in the name of public safety.” “The effect is the same when car lanes are eliminated. Traffic is constricted, which can critically impede EMS response at all hours of the day.”