Automatic emergency service 'e-Call' system required for all cars in three years' time
Friday, March 27, 2015 @ 8:49 AM
ALL newly-registered cars must be fitted with a system that automatically calls the emergency service number – which is 112 in Spain – from March 31, 2018.
The device, known as e-Call, means ambulances, the fire brigade and police can get to the scene of a serious accident more quickly as the car will contact them without any human intervention – a potential life-saver where the driver and any passengers are unconscious, trapped or otherwise indisposed, or unable to reach their phones.
This was agreed by MEPs on December 4 and ratified by the Internal Markets and Consumer Protection Commission in the European Parliament.
In order to comply with data protection laws across the 28 member States, the location of any car or light commercial vehicle cannot be traced using e-Call unless and until there is in fact an accident.
Should this happen, 112 staff in Spain and emergency services elsewhere in the EU will be notified during the automatic call of exactly where the car is at the time, to help rescue workers get there more quickly.
The e-Call system will pass on details of the make and model of the vehicle, the time of the accident, type of fuel used and the exact location, but will not be able to tell emergency services how serious the crash was, how many occupants are in the car or how seriously injured they are.
With Spain being the ninth-largest motor manufacturer in the world and the second-largest in Europe after Germany, it will be one of the main producers of cars and light commercial vehicles with the e-Call system fitted, meaning the new EU law will affect Spanish car factories the most.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com