Emergency Medical and Trauma Services
The goal of the Toward Zero Deaths program is to reduce not just crashes, but total road injuries and fatalities. Fast, efficient emergency medical services are critical to reducing fatalities and serious injuries whenever a crash does occur.
Prompt emergency service response is particularly important in rural Minnesota, where crash victims are far from medical facilities and crashes can go unnoticed until another vehicle passes by.
EMS Resources
2008 ENA National Scorecard on State Roadway Laws: A Blueprint for Injury Prevention
The 2008 ENA National Scorecard on State Roadway Laws: A Blueprint for Injury Prevention is a tool to empower ENA members, public health and highway safety professionals and the public at large to engage in collaborative efforts that encourage lawmakers to pass research-based laws protecting people from roadway-related injuries focuses on developing specific state laws to prevent injury and save lives.
Office of Emergency Medical Services—National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Focuses on the areas of standards, education, systems, workforce, and a national EMS information coordination
Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board (EMSRB)
The lead state agency regulating emergency services providers
Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan: A Guide for Enhancing Rural Emergency Medical Services (Transportation Research Board NCHRP Report 500, Vol. 15)
Provides strategies to enhance rural emergency medical services
Rural Highway Safety Clearinghouse - EMS section
Provides links to safety publications and other resources, organized by topic.
Gathering information from EMS personnel
Emergency trauma care personnel are the first trained responders at the scene of many traffic crashes. As such, they are an important source of information for agencies that gather data on crashes. In 1999, Minnesota's Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board began a program to collect specific information from emergency medical crews that respond to traffic crashes. This system is now in the final stages of development and has been tested in several areas around the state.
EMS and public education
Emergency service workers such as paramedics, fire fighters, law enforcement officers, doctors, and nurses know a lot about the effects of traffic crashes. Because they are experts and respected by their communities, they can be highly effective as part of a public outreach and education campaign.