Press release
Brussels, Athens – 25 April 2014
On 25 April 2014, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks organised the International Conference “Intelligent Transport Systems, eCall and Road Safety”, in cooperation with the European Commission and ERTICO-ITS Europe, who is the coordinator of the European project HeERO.
The Conference was organised within the framework of the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It is also a proof of the involvement of the Ministry in the project HeERO, which concerns the pilot implementation of eCall in Europe.
During the Conference, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Mr. Michalis Papadopoulos, stressed the importance of the Intelligent Transport Systems, best known as ITS, in the development, the creation of new jobs, the decrease of gas consumption and financial savings, as well as in the prevention and reduction of road accidents. During the Conference, the political commitment of the Greek Government to implement the eCall service in Greece has also been expressed.
The Secretary General for Telecommunications of Post, Mr. Menelaos Daskalakis, presented eCall, the new pan-European emergency call from a vehicle, based on the 112, the single European emergency number. The eCall service is an emergency call caused either manually by vehicle occupants or automatically via activation of in-vehicle sensors, as soon as a collision occurs. Greece participates in the pan-European project HeERO for the pilot implementation of eCall in European countries.
The Secretary General for Civil Protection, Mr. P. Georgiadis, presented the work of the General Secretariat for Civil Protection, the support provided to pan-European emergency number 112 and the implementation progress of upgrading the Operations Centre.
There has been an extensive report from the representative of the European Commission, Mr. Nino Zambara, on policy issues of DG Connect and DG Move on ITS.
In the policy session, the Greek Attaché and Chairman of the Technical Harmonisation WP, Mr. Mamalis, presented the work of the Hellenic Presidency, concerning:
1. the Proposal for the Decision on the deployment of the inter-operable EU-wide eCall and
2. the Proposal for the Regulation concerning type-approval requirements for the deployment of the eCall in-vehicle system and amending Directive 2007/46/EC.
The Project Manager of HeERO1 and HeERO2 in ERTICO, Mr. Andy Rooke, presented the project in detail and congratulated the Hellenic Presidency for its excellent work.
During the Conference, issues of strategic development of Intelligent Transport Systems have been discussed. There has been a presentation of new projects and initiatives for more efficient and better use of transport services by introducing intelligent systems. Particular emphasis has been given to applications for road safety and the eCall operation. During the conference, Greek, Bulgarian and Turk officials presented their pilot sites.
Finally, a real demonstration of the operation of the Greek eCall system was also in the agenda. There has been a simulation of an automatic eCall to the PSAP that was installed in the Ministry, dispatching it to the Fire brigade call centre that successfully decoded the MSD and the received geographical position from the Greek PSAP. The fire brigade responded immediately by sending a rescue team at the location of the incident.
For more information:
Andy Rooke
Senior Project Manager
ERTICO – ITS Europe
Tel: 0032 02 400 07 80
a.rooke@mail.ertico.com
Lina Konstantinopoulou
Senior Project Manager
ERTICO – ITS Europ
Tel: 0032 02 400 07 49
l.konstantinopoulou@mail.ertico.com
Media & press enquiries:
Maria De Rycke
Communication Manager
ERTICO – ITS Europe
Tel: 0032 02 400 07 40
m.derycke@mail.ertico.com
http://www.imobilitysupport.eu/working-groups/emergency-call-ecall
http://www.heero-pilot.eu/view/en/home.html
