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

eCall was estimated to reduce the number of road traffic fatalities by 5.8% (3.6-7.3%) in EU25 countries. A small increase (~0,1%) in the number of serious injuries was expected because eCall changes fatalities to injuries and serious injuries to less severe injuries.	The expected percentage changes in the number of fatalities and serious injuries on different accident categories were mostly based on the Finnish AINO study. The percentages obtained with Finnish data were then transformed into EU-25 accident data with different distribution of accidents in various accident types.	Wilmink, I. Janssen, W., Jonkers, E., Malone, K., van Noort, M., Klunder, G., Rämä, P., Sihvola, N., Kulmala, R., Schirokoff, A., Lind, G., Benz, T., Peters, H. & Schönebeck, S.	2008	Socio-economic Impact Assessment of Stand-alone and Co-operative Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems (IVSS) in Europe, Impact assessment of Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems. eIMPACT Deliverable D4.
eCall was estimated to reduce the annual number of road traffic fatalities by 1-2% in the Netherlands. The severity of injuries will also be reduced for about 1% of the injured people brought into hospitals.	The estimate for the reduction of fatalities was obtained by analysing a set of accidents. Of all fatal accidents on the road involving potentially eCall equipped vehicles) the authors looked at all accidents in which the fatal cases were not killed instantly but died shortly after the accident. When calculating the effects of eCall, only the time between accident and notification of emergency services was assumed to be reduced because of eCall.	Donkers, E. & Scholten, J.	2008	E-call en Verkeersveiligheidskansen, DEEL 4: De verwachte directe en indirecte effecten van e-call in Nederland. Rijkswaterstaat, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
eCall was estimated to reduce the annual number of road fatalities in UK by 3%.	The effects of eCall on the number of fatalities and serious injuries were estimated on the basis of the reduction in the time between accident and notification of emergency services, classification of accidents on the basis of road type and time of accident and classification of casualties potentially benefiting from eCall or not. When calculating the figure, 66 % fleet penetration was assumed for eCall.	McClure, D. & Graham, A.	2006	eCall - The Case for Deployment in the UK, Final report
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