EC scheme enables cars to report their own crashes, with location
By Clive Akass
Thu Feb 25 2010, 11:30
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION is trying to persuade Britain to enforce a system that would save an estimated 2,500 lives each year across the continent by enabling cars to report their own crashes.
The Ecall system, as it is called, is an extension of the e112 scheme, which automatically provides location information when an emergency call is made using 999 in the UK, or 112 anywhere in Europe.
Research shows that some six in ten mobile emergency callers cannot say where they are, and of course people involved in car crashes may not be able to make a call at all.
New cars were supposed to support Ecall from this year under an EC plan, but the UK has refused to make it mandatory for vehicles sold in Britain, though emergency services here can respond to Ecalls from cars fitted with the system and use the location information provided.
The Department for Transport said in a statement said that an independent review in 2006 indicated that the benefits of the system would not justify the cost of implementing it in the UK, which had "some of the safest roads in the world."
An EC spokeswoman said discussions were continuing with the DfT. "We are trying to provide additional data that would help [the Ecall] case," she said.
An EC spokeswoman said discussions were continuing with the DfT. "We are trying to provide additional data that would help [the Ecall] case," she said.
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