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A county in Florida has joined the growing list of municipalities putting paramedics on motorcycles for quicker response time.

Using 10 donated motorcycles formerly used by the California Highway Patrol, Broward County Sheriff Fire Rescue division has created a team of two-wheeled paramedics.

Located in southeast Florida Broward county has a population of just under 2 million, the motormedics roll on everything from traffic crashes to stalled elevators.

"People think we're cops until we bring out all the gear and start asking medical questions," chuckled Ken DeSantis, part of a new, two-person motorcycle rescue team stationed at Port Everglades to reduce response times at the congested seaport. The Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue division started the pilot program six months ago, modeling it after a successful one created by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

But DeSantis doesn't write tickets, and he only targets speeders if they're hurt.

"We cut response times to life-threatening calls by more than 58 percent," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Roman Bas, who started his agency's team in 2002 and hopes to help train Broward team members. "We have an average of a three-minute response time. You look at the statistics and it definitely works."

"We would love to see this program implemented around the country," Bas said. "We are pleased to see our neighboring fire department in Broward starting their own."

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