Tallinn bicycle paramedic team on around three calls per day through summer
Bicycle paramedics responded to nearly 300 emergency calls in Tallinn over summer, working nearly 1,000 hours in total on their solar-powered electric bikes.
Between June 1 and Aug. 31, the two-strong team, backed up by close to 50 support staff, responded to 298 calls, or around three per day, and clocked 989 hours' work, BNS reports, traveling a total of 8,921 kilometers by bike.
This was the 10th season the bicycle paramedics have been in operation, and worked from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The paramedics are useful in getting up Tallinn's narrow, cobbled Old Town streets, and can often be seen attending to incidents, including those of intoxication or similar.
For the first time, they used electric assisted-pedaling bikes, which have a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour, BNS reports. The bikes are powered by solar energy, derived from a solar panel on the roof of the Tallinn ambulance service building.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
