eCall In-Vehicle System Could Save 2,500 Lives Each Year
Imagine the scene: you are driving alone at night (video link) in an isolated area somewhere in Europe and you have a very bad crash, leaving you seriously injured and unable to communicate with anyone or to use your telephone to call the emergency services. Your chances of dying in such a situation would be quite high. Now, thanks to a new system to be implemented across Europe, help may be at hand in the form of eCall, an electronic service that will automatically call local rescue services by dialling 112 and providing information on the exact location of your vehicle, using its GPS coordinates.
Time saved = lives saved
It is shocking to learn that some 35,000 people died and 1.5 million were injured in about 1.5 million accidents on European roads in 2009. That’s almost 100 killed every day of the year and over 4,100 injured! Furthermore, the cost of this road carnage to the EU economy amounts to a staggering €160 billion per year. Any system, therefore, that can help to reduce these horrifying statistics, save lives and reduce injury has to be welcomed.
The eCall system is like a “black box” that activates when a vehicle airbag activates or when there is a sudden severe impact in the vehicle. It can also be activated manually so that, if a driver witnesses an accident, an emergency call can be made. Once activated, the system calls the local emergency service and creates both a voice and an automatic data link. The automatic data link sends the exact location of the accident (using GPS co-ordinates), the type of vehicle, direction of travel, and other relevant information for the rescue services. The voice link enables the occupant, if he or she is capable of doing so, to communicate directly with the emergency operator and provide further information about the accident.
According to the EU, the eCall system should enable emergency services to cut accident response times by 50% in rural areas and by 40% in urban areas. This improved response capability could save up to 2,500 lives a year and mitigate the severity of tens of thousands of accidents. It also has the potential to save some €20 billion annually if the system were fitted in all cars in the EU.
Despite the fact that the system is almost ready to roll, there are a number of barriers to be overcome before it can be successfully deployed across Europe. The first step is to fit all new cars with the eCall system. Next, telecoms operators must be able to identify calls from the eCall system and transmit the automatic data to the nearest emergency centre. Finally, emergency centres must be capable of receiving and processing the automatic data from the vehicle. Not all emergency centres can do this at present.
To overcome these barriers, the EU is taking steps to raise awareness of the eCall system and to fund pre-deployment projects. It is also considering implementing regulatory measures to require that the system is fitted in all new cars; that telecom operators can transmit emergency calls and data to emergence centres and that emergency centres are upgraded to handle eCall efficiently. The EU is also running a public consultation process until 19 September 2010 to collect the opinions of stakeholders and EU citizens on the issue. This is in the form of a short online survey that only takes minutes to complete (it only took me three minutes), so why not have your say?
20 EU member states and three non-EU states have formally supported the eCall system and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU); four are getting ready to sign and Ireland has stated support for eCall’s mandatory introduction but has not yet signed the MoU. In addition, over 100 other organisations are also committed to eCall’s introduction. These include car manufacturers BMW, DAF, Daimler, Fiat, General Motors, MAN, Porsche, Peugeot-Citreon, Renault, Scania, Volkswagen and Volvo. Other signatories include insurance companies; electronics companies; local authorities, and telephone operators. No Irish organisations are represented among the signatories.
There is some information available on the Irish Department of Transport website outlining Ireland’s position. The Department notes that, in November 2009, a study for the European Commission (PDF 4.2 Mb) indicated that eCall has a greater potential to save lives and reduce serious injuries if deployed on a mandatory as opposed to a voluntary basis. In late 2009, the Department undertook a stakeholder consultation with specialist interests in Ireland including the Road Safety Authority. The consultation resulted in a clear preference for a more proactive approach at EU level (MS Word) on eCall. At the EU Transport Council in December 2009, the Minister outlined the results of the stakeholder consultation on eCall, namely that there was support for its mandatory introduction in all road vehicles.
What do you think about eCall? Would you like to see such a system implemented in Europe? Should Ireland sign the MoU and get our telecoms operators and other stakeholders involved? Are there potential privacy concerns with such an in-vehicle telematics system and related technologies? Are privacy concerns mitigated by the benefits of the system? Please leave a comment and let me know.
Further information on eCall is available through these links:
Fact Sheet (PDF); eCall Video (Windows Media); eCall Toolbox; eCall FAQ (PDF)
