Chance of surviving heart attack drops by 10% every minute ambulance is stuck in traffic

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/to-give-or-not-to-give/1283922.html

In 2009, 19 drivers were summoned for failing to give way to emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire engines and police vehicles. This number fell to nine in 2013, and in the first half of 2014, there were only three.

However, one traffic expert said it is too early to celebrate. Gopinath Menon, adjunct associate professor at Nanyang Technological University, said: "They look encouraging, but ... if you take places like the US, Japan, and the UK, we're nowhere near that type of courtesy."

Paramedic Naomi Wee said she sees no difference in motorist behaviour from three or five years ago. She added: "Motorists wait till we're pretty close behind them before they would move over to the next lane."

The delay could be seconds, but if every car hesitates, it adds up - and in an emergency, every second counts.

The chance of surviving a heart attack drops by 10 per cent for every minute that passes - but it goes beyond that. After a heart attack, stroke, or traumatic injury, every second could determine the quality of recovery of the patient, and it could mean the difference between recovery and permanent disability.

"The brain will start to have irreversible brain damage after six minutes of no oxygen," said Ms Wee. "So even though the person may have survived, that does not necessarily ensure they're able to resume normal daily functions."

Education on the consequences of prolonging a medical emergency is crucial, but so is the more practical question of how to give way, especially in a traffic jam, said NUS sociologist Paulin Straughan.

There were close to 150,000 emergency calls for help in 2013.

Ms Wee urged motorists to spare a though for those in the ambulances. She said: "Motorists should always... put themselves in the place of the patient's family members and ask yourself - if that were your loved one in the ambulance, how would you respond, and how would you want other motorists to respond."

Congestion on the roads is not likely to ease, so whether the emergency services can do their life-saving work well will depend increasingly on the goodwill of other drivers.