This summary provides a general overview of High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane usage by Puget Sound region police and emergency vehicle response teams at various times of the day. Both emergency and non-emergency travel were reviewed.
How was emergency vehicle information collected?
Information was gathered from interviews with media relations contacts representing the Seattle Police and Fire departments and Washington State Patrol. Spokespersons from the following Puget Sound region independent ambulance transport companies were also interviewed:
• Accredited Air Ambulance Emergency Medical Services and Worldwide Medical Transport, Incorporated (AAAEMS)
• American Medical Response
• Rural/Metro Ambulance and Tri Med Ambulance, Incorporated
• Officials representing police departments in the cities of Redmond, Bellevue and Auburn
What did we learn?
All emergency response agencies, organizations and companies reported that their drivers use HOV lanes when eligible. Several agencies stressed that it is policy for civilian vehicles to pull to the right to allow emergency vehicles to pass on the left. Some reported that during non-emergencies, officers are most likely not to use the HOV lanes, unless they are HOV-eligible.
Deputy Chief Lauren Charleston of the City of Redmond Police Department reported that Redmond officers use HOV lanes during both emergency and non-emergency calls, "except on SR 520 because the HOV lanes are on the right."
Nearly all agencies reported a definite travel time advantage to using HOV lanes. Some, like spokesperson Jim Fosse at the Seattle Fire Department, provided anecdotal information on HOV usage:
"If the response is from downtown to the U-District at rush hour, units responding may use the HOV on-ramp to the express lanes."
Fosse estimates that the average vehicle deployed from the Seattle Fire Department will utilize HOV lanes 7 to 10 times per week. No other agencies were able to provide information on how often their vehicles use HOV lanes.
No agencies provided quantifiable reports of the amount of travel time saved by emergency vehicles traveling in HOV lanes versus general-purpose lanes, but several responded with comments like "carpool lanes move better." Dwayne Fish, media relations spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department, said this would be impossible to track due to the variable nature of calls. The issue of differences in distance also makes comparison difficult.
Commander Bob Lee of the City of Auburn police department reported that depending on the time of day and distance of trip, his officers save an estimated 15 to 20 minutes on commutes to meetings in Seattle, Kirkland and other cities.
"We don't use the freeways all that much. If the hours of operation changed…most people will still get out of the way, it just depends how," reported Captain John Manning of the City of Bellevue police department reported.
Jamie Olson, media relations spokesperson for Rural/Metro Ambulance and Brant Butte, business development manager for American Medical Response, both cited the fact that arriving at intended destinations in a timely manner is vital to their businesses.
Is there a peak period of emergency vehicle HOV lane usage?
A few emergency response providers reported that there are no peaks in emergency call volume(s) throughout the day.
Manning reported that the City of Bellevue's peak emergency call times are the morning waking hours (6:30 to 9 AM), afternoon rush hour (4 to 7 PM) and nighttime (9 PM to midnight) with a steady run of calls throughout the afternoon.
Commander Lee of Auburn reports that from 11 AM to 11 PM, the Auburn Police Department increases their minimum staffing.
AAAEMS reported that they receive more calls for emergency response during daylight hours.
American Medical Response reports peaks in emergency responses at 10 to 11 AM, 3 to 4 PM and a spike from midnight to 1 AM.
Tri Med Ambulance reported a wave of incidences during the morning commute, another during the day when they respond to facilities incidences, a wave during the afternoon peak hour commute and a late-night wave following the "bar rush," after 2 AM.
The Seattle Fire Department reported an ebb from 6 to 7 PM and a low from 4 to 6 PM, as well as variance in call volumes on weekends.
Would opening HOV lanes to all traffic during off-peak hours adversely impact emergency services?
Most emergency response providers did not foresee a change in HOV lane hours of operation policy affecting their service. "Most commercial vehicles know the alternate routes," Jay Davidson, president of Tri Med Ambulance, Inc., reported. He stressed that Tri Med is a smaller business that relies on making good time when responding to incidences. "We just teach [drivers] to take alternative routes during congestion."
"Regardless of who is traveling in the carpool lanes, they would have to yield to an emergency vehicle," Fish said.
"(A change to hours of operation) would potentially limit our options for accessing the freeway if the hours of operation were decreased," Fosse of Seattle Fire Department stated.
If HOV lanes hours of operation were changed, Deputy Chief Charleston of Redmond does not predict any change to service in his city.
"Usually when our officers travel to Seattle they are not facing rush hour traffic," Commander Lee of Auburn said.
However, if HOV lanes were moved to the left hand lane throughout the freeway HOV system, he predicts this would offer benefits to traffic flow and operations overall.
No agencies reported any problems with current HOV lane operations and/or policy.