Brussels, 8 sep (EFE).-the Vice-President of the European Commission (EC) and the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, responsible reported today a proposal for the mandatory adoption of the “eCall”, the European system of emergency call, it should be integrated into all new invoice of EU cars by 2015.
“We believe that the mandatory introduction is necessary,” he said Kroes in a speech in the Committee on transport and tourism of the European Parliament, where he presented the new recommendation community.
“eCall” consists of a device incorporated in the car that is activated when you have an accident and automatically connects with the 112, the phone number of European for the emergency services, to broadcast a minimum of essential data, such as the coordinates of the exact location of the vehicle.
According to estimates by the EC, this device has a cost of less than 100 euros per car and you could save up to 2,500 lives on the European roads.
“Pan-European eCall service has the potential to reduce the number of victims on the roads in at least one 4%, and the seriously wounded, in at least one 6%.” “This means that you could save a life every six hours if the eCall is deployed”, said Kroes to MEPs.
In addition, this technology can accelerate the arrival of emergency teams approximately 40 per cent in urban areas and 50% in rural.
Document adopted by the Commission today is a call to the Member States, automakers and telecommunications operators support this system of emergency calls
The goal is to ensure that the countries of that network operators give the same treatment to notices of eCall that any call to 112: giving priority and without charging any fee.
With respect to the issues of privacy, this system does not allow the tracking of vehicles you are “asleep” and does not send any signal until the vehicle suffers a shock, moment in which active.
Currently, only 0.7 per cent of cars in the European Union are equipped with such devices, which does not offer sufficient interoperability or continuity in the whole of the EU.
Given the “slowness” that Member States are incorporating this service, that in 2009 Brussels urged to voluntarily adopt the Commission has decided to take legislative action to deploy mandatory in all new vehicles by 2015.
Kroes also indicated that the EC was preparing an awareness campaign and that a working group is considering the introduction of these devices in older cars. EFE
car producer Daimler, Dieter Zetsche, CEO presents a new vehicle in Stuttgart, Germany. EFE/file
