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The incredible story of an ambulance crash in Minnesota (see “A Profound Impact” on page 84) demonstrates the serious impact a single crash can have on an EMS agency. At the national level, significant efforts are underway to better understand the causes and effects of crashes to help identify ways of keeping both patients and practitioners as safe as possible.

How Many Fatal Ambulance Crashes Are There?

At NHTSA, we analyzed data from the past 20 years and found that each year, the nation averages 29 fatal crashes involving an ambulance, resulting in an aver-age of 33 fatalities annually.1 While one-fourth of those fatalities are inside the ambulance at the time of the crash, in the majority of fatal crashes involving an ambulance, the driver or passenger of another vehicle is the one who is killed. We see a different distribution of nonfatal injuries: We estimate that an average of 1,500 ambulance

How Is National Crash Data Collected?

Since 1975, NHTSA has collected information on every fatal crash in the country through the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Through NHTSA’s General Estimates System (GES) program, we conduct a nationally representative sample of police-reported crashes across the country and estimate the number of total crashes resulting in injuries, including those involving ambulances. We know whether the people killed or injured were drivers or passengers in the ambulances involved in crashes, but we are still working to collect consistent data on whether they were patients, providers or neither, such as patient family members. For more than a decade, NHTSA’s Special Crash Investigations teams have conducted investigations of serious ambulance crashes. Investigators collect information about pre-crash, crash and post- crash events. These events include pre-crash activities of the persons involved and the circumstances or contributing factors to the crash, including any environmental, roadway or equipment factors. By using visual inspections of roadways and vehicles along with interviewing all involved, the investigations provide factual insight into the crash. This type of data is invaluable to determine the nature and causes of injuries sustained in the crash by all occupants. NHTSA has conducted more than 50 of these in-depth investigations.

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