Road accident alert technology successfully undergoes testing
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A system that instantly alerts emergency services to road accidents has just undergone a successful round of testing at the innovITS test track in the UK.
eCall, developed as part of a cross-European project, is intended to improve road safety by automatically communicating with the emergency services in the event of an accident, even if the driver and passengers are unable to speak due to injury. In such circumstances, the system automatically transmits a minimum data set including the exact location of the crash site and identification of the vehicle, thus reducing emergency service response time.
Readers' comments (7)
Jim Hession | 14 Jun 2012 1:30 pm
Excellent. At last current hi-tech equipment being used sensibly.
However, with my sick sense of humour, I could not help wanting the ambulance to skid off the road as well!
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Anonymous | 14 Jun 2012 3:37 pm
What's the point? It may work on major routes & in significant areas of population where there are plenty of witnesses who will be able to report the accident but given the abysmal mobile phone coverage in rural areas of the UK you're still going to wait a very long time for rescue if you're upside down in a ditch on a country road.
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S. Martin | 14 Jun 2012 5:03 pm
We could also ask another question!!!
IS IT ANOTHER WAY OF MONITORING US and introducing monitoring technologies to track us using back door methods. Its regularly done using CCTV, and we know they want to introduce it to our vehicles as well.
Just a thought, and one I would welcome responses too.
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Anonymous | 14 Jun 2012 5:22 pm
You have to start somewhere...
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John Lewis | 14 Jun 2012 9:46 pm
I own a BMW 3 series which has an automatic system identical to this incorporated in the satnav and telephone system (the car has a SIM built in). There was a report not long ago about a coastguard rescue launched because, as it turned out, a car on a ferry had sent out a distress signal caused not by a crash but by the wave motion!
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Anonymous | 15 Jun 2012 1:07 am
@Anonymous The point is exactly the opposite of what you suggest -to give one the chance of rescue when one may be unable to alert emergency services and/or the event is not witnessed by someone who could. To write-off eCall as "pointless" as either the event shall occur on a busy route where fellow motorists can alert emergency services or one may have to wait "upside down in a ditch" (for those silly rescue folk) is simply mindless. eCall is an obvious extension of existing technologies and it will save lives.
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Anonymous | 18 Jun 2012 8:06 pm
The other @Anonymous - My point was that in rural area with no mobile phone coverage the prime means of communication of such systems is not available so they won't work. Communication via geostationary satellite is unreliable in valleys, even at UK latitudes and even low earth orbit satellites can be masked by trees. With such a system installed there may well be the temptation to believe that rescue will be on its way whatever the circumstances whereas in practice it may be a long time coming. The very places where it should be of greatest benefit - rural roads with a mobile phone signal - may also be compromised as data traffic on mobile phone networks is often squeezed out by voice calls meaning the alert signal could be significantly delayed by other network traffic.
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