Doctors and nurses are trained not to run up the stairs when responding to a page in the hospital; arriving out of breath and with pulse racing does them, and the patients, little good. But ambulances do race, often both to and from the scene. Is this necessary? What risks does speed entail? An analysis of three cases of injuries to emergency medical services (EMS) workers and patients resulting from ambulance crashes points out that fewer than half of the EMS workers used restraints. Drivers and front-seat passengers also failed to use restraints in some cases. This article provides recommendations for restraint use, but does not address the causes of the crashes or how they might have been avoided.

Reduced impact baseballs for use in youth sport have been around for a while. But many teams and leagues still resist using them, presumably because the adults in charge believe such use would place their players at a competitive disadvantage. Baseball is a relatively safe sport, and the use of “safety balls” and faceguards help keep the injury risk low. A recent large study evaluated …