Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for Mobility and Transport, welcomed the European Parliament’s vote today on establishing emergency call response centres for the handling of 112 eCalls. The eCall system automatically dials 112 – Europe’s single emergency number – in the event of a serious accident.
Speaking after the vote, Vice-President Kallas said: “In the near future, eCall will be available for everyone in the EU, and will help us mitigate the consequences of road accidents. eCall will be a major asset in our efforts to halve road fatalities by 2020”.
It is estimated that 112 eCall can speed up emergency response times by 40% in urban areas and 50% in the countryside and can reduce the number of fatalities by at least 4% and the number of severe injuries by 6%.
The Parliament’s plenary vote is an important step in the EU road safety strategy to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries. It ensures that once cars equipped with eCall will be on the EU roads, the necessary infrastructure will be ready to handle the calls and to rescue drivers and passengers more quickly throughout the European Union.
eCall is a low cost solution. Because it is only activated in case of a serious accident, driver behaviour cannot be tracked during normal use of the car.
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