Intelligent cars could save thousands of lives

2.44.17pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 28th Apr 2006

London's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Baroness Sarah Ludford is calling on the government to speed up progress in ensuring that all British cars are fitted with "eCall" - an in-car system which automatically alerts the emergency services in the event of an accident.

The European Parliament has urged all EU governments who have not yet done so to sign up to the eCall Memoranda of Understanding and commit themselves to developing an action plan for rolling out the system. Sarah Ludford said:

"In 2004 34 365 people were injured and 216 killed in accidents on London's roads. Had the cars involved been fitted with the e-call system the emergency services would have been on the scene much more quickly, which could have made all the difference to those injured."

The life-saving feature of eCall is the accurate information it provides on the location of the accident site. The nearest emergency centre is notified immediately, and emergency services know exactly where to go, resulting in a drastic reduction in the rescue time. Sarah added:

"The possibility that eCall system could cut the severity of road deaths by as much as 15% and save thousands of lives is very exciting. British holidaymakers will feel safer driving abroad once installing eCall in cars is standard practice throughout the EU."

Notes

- Statistics taken from "Road Casualties English Local Authority Tables 2004", available at http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_control/documents/contentservertemplate/dft_index.hcst?n=9701&l=4

- For further information on eCall and the Memoranda of Understanding please go to: http://www.escope.info/