ANKARA
The European Parliament's Internal Market Committee reached an agreement on Thursday which stated that all new cars will be installed a “life-saving automatic emergency call system,” starting from March 2018.
According to the European Parliament, the system labeled as eCall will use the 112 number to call the emergency services automatically, enabling them to reach crash scenes faster.
According to the EU, 26,000 peoples died in road accidents within the union in 2013.
The automatic call will only give emergency services basic data such as the class of vehicle, the type of fuel used, the time of the accident and the exact location, the agreement stated.
The Members of the European Parliament also strengthened the draft law’s data protection clause to preclude tracking of eCall-equipped vehicle before the accident occurs.
According to the agreement, the eCall system will be installed in all new models of passenger cars by 2018
In the following years, the European Commission will decide whether or not to extend it to other vehicles, such as buses, coaches or trucks.
The agreement, after being backed by the Internal Market Committee, now needs to be formally approved by all EU member states and finally the European Parliament as a whole.
www.aa.com.tr/en
