eCall

Description
The emergency-call gives precise coordinates of the location of an accident to the emergency services which are responsible for the help. The service is a multi-stakeholder function of public organisations, telecom companies and service providers and car manufacturers.

Impacts
The systems should lead to a higher efficiency of the rescue chain reducing the consequences of the accidents and their severity. The system is estimated to reduce the number of road fatalities by 2-15% and the number of severely injured by 3-15%.

Studies

The eCall system could very probably have prevented 4.7% of the fatalities in accidents involving motor vehicle occupants. In the accidents involving a fatally injured unprotected road user, however, the system could probably have prevented no fatality. In all, the eCall system was estimated to be able to reduce 4-8% of road fatalities in Finland.	The results are based on Finnish accident data collected by in-depth accident investigation teams. The data was analysed by medical experts having long experience of treating accident trauma.	Virtanen N.	2005	Automaattisen hätäviestijärjestelmän vaikutukset onnettomuustilanteessa (Impacts of an automatic emergency call system on accident consequences). AINO publications 14/2005.
From 5 to 10% of road fatalities would be changed to severe injuries in EU. In addition, 10 to 15% of  severe injuries would be changed to slight injuries.	The study is based on official European accident statistics, traffic analyses, available market reports, and other sources. Effectiveness estimates were based on results from surveys of the E-MERGE project.	Abele, J., Kerlen, C., Krueger, S., Baum, H., Geißler, T., Grawenhoff, S., Schneider, J. & Schulz, W.H.	2004	Exploratory Study on the potential socio-economic impact of the introduction of Intelligent Safety Systems in Road Vehicles. SEiSS. VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH and Institute for Transport Economics at the University of Cologne.
The foreseen live savings are estimated on an average between 5-10% which means 2000 to 4000 lives given the current number of fatalities of approx. 40000 and the reduction of the severity of injuries is estimated at the same number 5-10%.	The results are based on a questionnaire targeted to public safety answering point operators in E-MERGE test sites.	Cap Gemini Ernst & Young	2004	E-MERGE Compiled evaluation results. Deliverable 6.3