ambulance license

[Ediron]

I went to the DMV
I was driving back home and realized I forgot the study handbook

Is there any study guide online, that I can just study????
and also I got the DL 51, do I go to any physician??

thanx

 

[Danson]

Unfortunantly there isn't any online study guide so you'll have to pay the DMV 5 bucks for the manual. AMR has a good practice test for the real thing...just google "AMR ambulance driver practice test" and you should be able to find it.

You'll need the book though. It's a horrible and tough read...but just try to get through it a few times and get 100% on the practice test.

For the DL 51, just call your physician first and certainly bring in the paperwork with you! If you've had a physical recently you may just be able to fax it into your doc and have him fax it back...that's what I did!

Hope this helps...good luck!!

 

[Fulch]

I took my test on thursday last week, I found it to be pretty straight forward. But make sure you go through the book carefully because i almost got tripped up by a couple of things. For example, whether or not it's ok to take equiptment out of the rig to transport an infant and how much O2 you must legally carry before you go on a call in California.
Driver medicals are simple, but if you're paying more than $100, you're paying too much. (i used to be a truck driver and have come up against plenty of docs who'll charge you $150-$200 for a 15 minute physical, I checked around when i moved out here last year and get mine done for $60. The DMV don't care how much you spent, but you will)

Best of luck!

 

[Jeffrey_169]

What is an Ambulance License? Is it CEVO? I have never heard of it. Everywhere I have been you just take a class, get a letter form your Chief, and go down to DMV and get a "Class E" License. . I haven't needed one because I have a Class A CDL and stay current with my CEVO (some places call it EVO)

I know it seems like a stupid question, but I am curious.

 

[JPINFV]

California requires people driving ambulances to obtain an ambulance driver certificate proving that they are healthy enough to drive (essentailly same physical and medical requirments as commercial drivers), know the laws governing ambulance operation, and are able to pass a background check. There is no practical portion of this process.

http://dmv.ca.gov/dl/ambu_drvr_cert.htm

 

[Fulch]

California have what they call a Ambulance Certificate. Basicly all it is another endorsemant on your drivers license.

To get one you have to have a physical, just like with a CDL, then you trip on down to your local "live scan" agency to get your fingerprints taken. After that you take all that paperwork down to the DMV, who administer a written test. If you pass said written test you get issued with a small slip of paper which says you can legally pilot a Ambulance through the busy streets of
California. Simple......time consuming and expensive

 

[Jeffrey_169]

California have what they call a Ambulance Certificate. Basicly all it is another endorsemant on your drivers license.

To get one you have to have a physical, just like with a CDL, then you trip on down to your local "live scan" agency to get your fingerprints taken. After that you take all that paperwork down to the DMV, who administer a written test. If you pass said written test you get issued with a small slip of paper which says you can legally pilot a Ambulance through the busy streets of
California. Simple......time consuming and expensive

No disrespect intended to my brothers and sisters in service in CA, but it seems every time I turn around I find another reason not to ever go there. That is such BS. They take a job which pays little to nothing to begin with and make it more expensive. To the people who practice in your state I say you are better then I; I would have left a long time ago.

To me it sounds like just another way to screw decent hardworking people out of their hard earned money. I could be wrong; this is just the way it seems to me.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I was rather confused.

 

[JPINFV]

Actually, I think the state has an obligation to insure that people with serious rap sheets and serious medical conditions (epilepsy, uncontrolled HTN, etc) that can affect the driver's ability to operate an emergency vehicle aren't operating emergency vehicles as well as that the people who are operating emergency vehicles understand the laws governing their use. Not all companies provide adequate training before they allow their employees to drive their ambulances. How familiar are you and your coworkers with the vehicle code governing ambulance use in Texas? How about information regarding the efficacy of sirens? It's not much, but it's better than nothing and the cost paid to the DMV isn't that much. It's the background check and the physical that costs money.

 

[MrBrown]

I agree with JP. We used to have a simmilar program to the California Ambulance endorsement called a Class E endorsment (E for Ambulance, go figure?) which required a CDL physical but that got canned in 1999.

The replacement is called a P Endorsement (for passenger) but Ambulance has en exemption because of the substantial number of volunteer Officers and the extremely prohibitive cost of obtaing said endorsment ($500 up front then $100 a year).