PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel in Iowa comprise more than 400 service providers statewide—over two-thirds of these providers serve in a voluntary status. During a three-year period from late 1994 through late 1997, statistics indicated that emergency vehicles had been involved in more than 100 of the 75,000 traffic crashes reported annually. Of these 100 crashes in which an emergency vehicle had been involved, several had resulted in death or serious injury.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program, developed by the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau, was the reduction of crash-related fatalities and injuries involving emergency vehicles. The primary objective of the program was to provide highway safety training opportunities for EMS personnel.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The strategy for addressing the problem of emergency vehicle crashes involved placing development and coordination of a statewide EMS training effort with the North Central Iowa Regional EMS Coordinator, who had long been a proponent of EMS vehicle operator training.

During Fiscal Year 1997, the Regional Coordinator, in partnership with the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau, developed several activities designed to ensure the reduction of crashes involving emergency vehicles:

• A one-and-one-half-day EMS Driver Instructor curriculum was developed to train experienced emergency vehicle operators as instructors to less experienced operators. The EMS Driver Instructor classes were conducted by emergency vehicle operators, nationally certified to train EMS personnel
• A training course for EMS operators was developed, consisting of four hours of classroom instruction and "hands on" behind-the-wheel training on a driving range
• Partnerships were formed with area community colleges to provide classroom space and other support for the EMS instruction
• EMS personnel selected for the Driver Instructor training courses were required to apply for the opportunity, and were then required to commit to subsequent training of a minimum of 20 student EMS vehicle operators within their local communities

RESULTS
Two EMS Driver Instructor classes were held at the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny on September 5-7, 1997. Fifty EMS drivers attended and were certified as EMS Driver Instructors. These 50 EMS Driver Instructors took the training they received and introduced it to their local communities and, in conjunction with the community colleges, developed programs of instruction to be held throughout the school year. The classroom element was developed for instruction during the fall and winter months, with the "hands on" training offered in the spring.

During Fiscal Year 1998, a second wave of 55 EMS Driver Instructors were trained and certified, who then trained 105 less-experienced emergency vehicle operators within their own communities.

Data on the reduction of crashes and crash-related fatalities and injuries involving emergency vehicles are in the process of being compiled; however, the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau is encouraged by the enthusiastic acceptance of the EMS training and anticipates fulfillment of the EMS program goal.

FALL 1998