Victims of life-threatening car crashes in California have to wait longer for emergency responders than in other parts of the country, a recent study has revealed.
Help arrives slowest in California, with the state recording almost double the national average wait time for emergency medical service (EMS) responders, according to a study by LendingTree.
The study examines fatal crash data across the U.S. using the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System public federal database of fatal traffic crashes in 2022 and 2023. Researchers analyzed how quickly EMS reaches fatal crash sites after they are informed.
The average EMS response time after a fatal car crash across the U.S. is 10 minutes, according to the study. This pertains to the amount of time that lapses between getting alerted to an emergency and arriving at the crash scene.
LendingTree researchers said a 10-minute EMS response time is on the slower side of what emergency response standards are aiming for.
Among the states with available data, California was found to have the slowest EMS response time after a deadly car crash. On average, EMS teams in California take 19.6 minutes to arrive at the scene of the crash.
Longer response times can result in severe consequences for crash victims, explained LendingTree auto insurance expert Lindsay Bishop. The early minutes are crucial for medical attention and victims may suffer from complications such as bleeding or oxygen deprivation that worsen injuries.
Citing the U.S. Department of Transportation, the study said around 40% of people who die in fatal car crashes were still alive when EMS first responders arrived, but died later.
On the other hand, the District of Columbia had the fastest EMS response time after a fatal car crash, with EMS arriving in 4.7 minutes.
Three states (South Carolina, Virginia, and New Mexico) did not have data available for analysis, according to LendingTree.
States with the slowest EMS response times:
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California
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Wyoming
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North Dakota
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Oklahoma
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Alabama
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Mississippi
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South Dakota
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West Virginia
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Montana
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Louisiana
States with the fastest EMS response times:
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District of Columbia
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Massachusetts
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Nevada
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Rhode Island
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New Jersey
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Connecticut
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Colorado
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Delaware
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Ohio
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Illinois
Location and time of day also play significant roles.
Longer response times in rural areas tend to create more challenges for fatal crash victims, Bishop said.
The slowest average EMS response time is usually between 4 and 4:59 a.m., at 11.4 minutes, while the fastest occurs from 9 to 9:59 p.m., at 9.1 minutes.
Long Ambulance Offload Time
Even after reaching patients, EMS crews can face delays at hospitals. A separate study found that ambulance offload times in California exceeded the state’s 30-minute standard.
The ambulance patient offload time (APOT) is the critical interval marking the duration from an ambulance’s arrival at the emergency department (ED) to the time when the patient is transferred to the ED’s care, according to the study published on PubMed Central.
Based on a study that analyzed ambulance offloads across 34 local EMS agencies in California, the mean APOT was 42.8 minutes.
Offloading delays often lead to a prolonged length of stay in the ED and increased mortality, according to the study. Prolonged APOT also results in ambulances getting stuck for a longer time at EDs and less availability of critical care services for the community.
It’s a huge state with many different conditions. I don’t think a state-wide average is meaningful.
But our economy is 4th largest in the world, so…
What a dim bulb you seem to have been installed with.
How sad that those suffering life-threatening injuries after an accident in California are less likely to survive had the accident occurred in places like West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Alabama. Having the world’s fourth largest economy does nothing if the money is not well spent. We are nearly a trillion in debt, have 35 percent of the nation’s homeless, horribly underperforming K-12 education system, highest tax rates in the nation, and on and on and on. We cannot move forward by hating and blaming the orange boogeyman and the few who voted for him. A good economy should equate to stellar everything, but in Cali, just hope you don’t need EMS help. Moving to another state is not the answer. The answer is to make our wonderful state better by making our elected officials spend more wisely…or at a minimum stick to a budget. Spending wisely does not mean allowing projects like the High-Speed Rail Project to balloon to over five times the original cost and 15 years behind schedule…and no one smells a rat?
More Republican nonsensical diatribe. Some 3rd world countries have better infant mortality rates than red states. Let’s start there. Oh wait, funding has been pulled for rural hospitals by your leader and infant vaccines are being disparaged by MAGA. But, you voted for “spending wisely”.
Many other countries have high speed rail. That is because it was prioritized at a federal level and the states or provinces weren’t expected to each manage their own project. Those countries didn’t listen to dimwitted maga-like populist voices and cater to feelings of the far right. The GOP has made us do a 180 in our ability to maintain a great country and continue being a leader of the free world. But the leaders that you voted for want to put money into mass surveillance and the military and limit all other services. You voted for it.
Aw bringing up off-topic high speed rail? Sure, you must know it’s a complete failure thus far despite 15 billion spent. He’s had PLENTY of money. Just can’t get anything done, that’s all. But hey, keep buying into it. Now, add EMS response times to the list of CA’s failures under Gavin’s administration.
Basic. Off topic? Follow along if you can. BeeKnee brought up the rail. Great countries have had it for some time. But you are too busy defending child rapists.
BASIC – proving to everyone here everyday that you don’t read articles or all comments is not a great look for what you claim to be. It shows profound laziness and poor reading comprehension skills.
Add to that your constant lies. I mean, you’re not fooling anyone, even your fellow workers, anymore, guy.
Why do you insist on ALWAYS looking so poorly read?
Let’s focus on how California spends and borrows its money rather than mentioning things that simply have no bearing on this article. BTW, there are no third-world countries that have a lower infant-mortality rates lower than any state in the USA. Mississippi has the highest rate with approximately 9 per 100,000 (the USA overall is about 5 per 100,000). Let’s figure this out together and hold back on the finger pointing and inaccurate information.
***NOT per 100,000….it’s per 1,000
Avoiding inaccurate information, in other words, lies, would eliminate your comments.
Albania is 8.3 per 1,000.
Albania is not a third-world country.
Mississippi’s GDP is 5 times that of Albania.
Basic. Off topic? Follow along if you can. BeeKnee brought up the rail. Great countries have had it for some time. But you are too busy defending child rapists.
Beeknee you will not be the arbiter of my speech. I will point out your con hypocrisy every time.
And BTW mississippi is on par with nations like Tonga or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Developing nations. So nice of you to defend them.
Tonga and Saint Vincent are wonderful places to visit or to live/retire, but ya gotta be cool with the locals and accept the local norms/customs (always best to be polite).
Everyone smells the rat but you, because you keep bending your knees and expelling MAGA flatulence.