Effectiveness of Decrease Speed Ambulance Application on Decrease Road Incident of Ambulance in Udonthani Province, Thailand

Abstract

Ambulance drivers are responsible for the life of the co-workers, patients, caregiver and their relatives during transport. In 2016 to 2019, there were 110 accidents occurred; and 318 people were injured and killed. Ministry of Public Health has set-up measures to ensure that ambulances are safe in all health zones. focusing on driving methods and practices in accordance with the laws. However, there has been no support guideline on key issues that will ensure the success of the measures. The objective of this study was assess the situation on the problems relating to the operation of ambulance drivers, and to study the effectiveness of ambulance speed control to reduce the road traffic incidents of ambulances. It was conducted in Udon Thani province through one group quasi experimental research. The samples were 90 ambulance drivers working in hospitals in Udon Thani. GPS speed control was utilized; and data were collected between October 2020 to September 2021. The results were analyzed using inferential statistics (paired t-test) to compate the difference between before and after the experiment. The results showed that all the drivers were males with the mean age of 39.54 years old. Most of them were married couples. The average working experience was 12.4 years. The initial safety driving behavior score was at mod erate level (mean=77.44, SD=6.03), which were significantly increased to a good level (mean=97.16, SD=5.14) after the experiment (p 0.001). In addition, the incidence rate of the road accidents after the program was 2.23 times/1,000) compared to 4.69 times/1,000 before the program, up to 40% reduction. The decline was due to the avoidance of risk during driving such as high speed, sudden change of lane or suddent overtaking. Therefore, the ambulance speed control could reduce injuries and reduce the mortality of personnel and patients during transportation.