Estonia backs eCall

29 Apr 2009

On April, 27th, the eCall Memorandum of Understanding (eCall MoU) got the backing of Estonia. Jüri Pihl, Estonian Minister of the Interior, signed the eCall MoU in the presence of Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for the Information Society and Media. Estonia is the 15th EU Member State to sign the MoU. It thereby commits itself to the timely implementation of this pan-European emergency call system, enabling a car involved in a serious crash to automatically dial 112 and call the nearest emergency centre to transmit the accident's exact location.

"I am pleased that Estonia gives its support to the deployment of this technology, which could save up to 2.500 lives a year", said Commissioner Reding at the signature event. "Estonia's signature comes at the right moment, as the European eCall Implementation Platform has just started its activities ensuring a harmonized deployment of eCall across Europe, and the core standards for the eCall transmission have been approved. I call on the remaining EU Member States, as well as other European countries, to take this signature as an example, and to follow suit. We cannot wait any longer: lives are at stake here", the Commissioner concluded. Background The pan-European in-vehicle emergency call system, "eCall", is a device in the car that uses 112, the single European emergency number, to automatically call the nearest emergency centre in the event of a serious traffic accident. In the call the exact location of the accident scene is transmitted to the centre, even is there is no voice connection, because, for example, all passengers have lost consciousness. Knowledge of the exact location of the crash reduces response time of the rescue teams by 40 % in built-up areas and 50 % in rural environments. 2.500 lives could be saved in the European Union annually, and 15 % of serious injuries mitigated, if all European cars were equipped with eCall. Other EU Member States that have signed the MoU so far are: Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain and The Netherlands. Non-EU States Iceland, Norway and Switzerland belong to the signatories as well.