New York, NY – IT seems like a no- brainer: Equip the Emergency Medical Service with motorcycles to weave through the city’s notorious traffic jams and cut response times to life-threatening emergencies.
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But after six months of study, the FDNY still hasn’t taken up an offer of eight free Harley-Davidsons secured by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum for a six-month pilot project.
It’s not clear why, since fire officials refuse to explain their reservations other than to say, “The proposal is still under review.”
Motorcycles have shown their worth in medical emergencies in Florida and elsewhere. The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue service reported reaching critical emergencies in an average of 2.83 minutes, a 60 percent improvement.
Here in the city, it took ambulances an average of 5.14 minutes last month to get to the most serious calls.
One agency that doesn’t need convincing about the value of motorcycles to get around traffic is the NYPD.
While the Fire Department considers whether to accept the Harleys, the Police Department is preparing to spend nearly $1 million to buy a fleet of them. [nypost]
Give them to Hatzalah & Zaka.
Yeah, Right…. The City might do something “normal”. if it doesnt involve making money, like parking tickets, it’s not worth it. save a life??? nah, we need the money….
Hatzalah in israel has a whole fleet of them. some hatzalah guys here use them and even shomrim started using them to patrol “quietly”.
While it’s arguably dangerous, it still has many benefits with a properly trained operator.
i dont care what they do we just have hatzalah, on a serious call the first member there is there within a minute
why dont they atleast use fly cars
if they are scared of bikes