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Paramedics are using motorbikes and bicycles to reach critically ill patients in a bid to cut response times on London's congested roads.
New figures reveal more patients than ever before are being seen within eight minutes.
Statistics from the Department of Health show 47,000 more seriously injured patients were treated within the target time in 2008-09 than in the previous year.
A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said: "We have increased our use of fast response cars, motorcycles and bicycles to navigate London's busy roads."
The Government demands that 75 per cent of "category A" calls must be answered within eight minutes, and a back-up ambulance must arrive within 19 minutes.
In London more than 240,000 emergency patients - or 75.5 per cent - were seen within the eight-minute target in 2008-09 and an ambulance reached 99 per cent of patients within 19 minutes.
London Ambulance Service chief executive Peter Bradley said this had been the service's best year.
He added: "Our staff have done a terrific job this year and we have reached more patients, more quickly than ever before."
