California has slowest EMS response times to fatal crashes in America, study finds

Emergency medical service response times to fatal crashes in California are nearly double the national average, according to a new study.   Researchers at LendingTree analyzed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System data, a public federal database showing fatal traffic crashes in 2022 and 2023 – the latest statistics available. For every fatal crash record that included usable timestamps, the researchers calculated the number of minutes between “EMS notified” and “EMS arrived at scene” and then summarized the response times by state, urban or rural location and time of day. Three states did not have data for analysis, LendingTree noted: South Carolina, Virginia and New Mexico.  The study found the average EMS response time to a fatal car crash nationwide was exactly 10 minutes. A LendingTree expert, Lindsay Bishop, explained that 10-minute response times is “on the slower side” of what officials aim for. “In many cases, the goal is for the first emergency unit to arrive within about four minutes, with enough responders on scene to fully handle the situation within roughly eight to ten minutes,” she said. In California, however, the study found that a lot more time elapses between notification and arrival: on average, it takes 19.6 minutes for EMS to get to the scene of a fatal crash – the longest among states with available data. The 10 states with the longest EMS response times to fatal crashes can be viewed below: On the other hand, Washington, D.C. has the fastest EMS response times in the nation, with emergency personnel arriving, on average, 4.7 minutes after being notified of a fatal crash. Other states with relatively quick response times include Massachusetts (6.4 minutes); Nevada and Rhode Island (both at 6.5 minutes) and New Jersey (7.3 minutes). LendingTree analysts did emphasize that location matters very much when it comes to emergency response times, noting that their data indicated an average response time of 7.6 minutes in urban areas and 13.3 minutes in rural areas. Also critical to response times is the time of day; researchers found that the slowest average EMS response time occurs in the 4 a.m. hour – 11.4 minutes – while the fastest is the 9 p.m. hour: 9.1 minutes. When compared to traffic safety data, states with slower EMS response times tend to have higher death rates from crashes. Citing the U.S. Department of Transportation, LendingTree found that roughly four in ten people who died in fatal collisions were still alive when first responders got to the scene but later died. “While response time is only one factor influencing crash outcomes, it can affect whether severe injuries ultimately become survivable,” Bishop, the LendingTree expert, said. Fatality rates also impact insurance companies; crashes with severe injuries are the most expensive types of auto claims, experts say, because they often involve lengthy hospital stays, rehab and long-term disability. "The economic cost of a fatal crash averages about $1.9 million, while the cost of disabling injuries is around $167,000 on average," LendingTree said, citing the National Safety Council. The same goes for location and time of day, according to researchers. “In rural crashes, victims often wait longer for emergency care and must travel farther to reach a hospital,” Bishop said. “For example, in Texas, EMS takes nearly 14 minutes to arrive on the scene of rural crashes and doesn’t arrive at the hospital until over an hour after the accident, but victims of urban accidents in Texas get help within about nine minutes of an accident and are at the hospital about 39 minutes after the crash.” LendingTree noted that the gap also helps explain why rural crashes tend to be more costly for insurance providers, as victims of rural crashes are more likely to have complications due to delayed medical care. You can read the complete study here.