With the aim to increase the scope of safety and security in new cars, authorities in the UAE have announced that it will be mandatory for all new cars delivered to the UAE market to have the ECall Emergency System from 2021. This is basically an accident alert system that plays a critical role in reducing the risk of casualties in the event of a dangerous road accident. The ECall Emergency System is a post-collision safety technology that automatically activates when an accident has already occurred and informs the nearest emergency services station to dispatch immediate medical help to the accident site. In this way, the risk of fatalities caused by a dangerous road accident can be reduced and the effect of serious injuries can also be curtailed by providing instant medical care to injured motorists.
Official Statement on the ECall Emergency System
The ECall Emergency System now comes as a standard feature in all new cars manufactured and delivered to the European Union (EU) car markets. Even some of the flagship car models imported in the UAE feature this technology, but there are only a few such cars available in the UAE car market at the moment. The Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) issued the recommendations on standardizing this emergency communication system in vehicles to the UAE Cabinet and it was accepted by the Cabinet last week. The objective of this new road safety initiative is to reduce the response time of emergency services by up to 40% in the event of a dangerous road accident and provide medical help to the motorists quickly.
Abdullah Al Maeeni, the Director General of ESMA confirmed the announcement that it will become mandatory for all new cars delivered to the UAE market to have the ECall Emergency System. He added that the decision to install the ECall Emergency System in all new cars from 2021 has been taken after completing a thorough research on the effectiveness of this system with the joint support of vehicle manufacturers, the UAE government institutions and private companies.
All the new vehicle models with pre-installed ECall Emergency Communication System will be delivered to the UAE car market in 2020. This will be the first time in the Middle East Region that such a technology will be mandatorily installed in the new cars and it is expected to reduce the number of road deaths caused by dangerous road accidents.
Also read: Dubai Police Urges Motorists to Report Minor Accidents through Smart App
How the ECall Emergency System Works?
The ECall Emergency System is already present in some of the modern-day cars. Some brands also use the name “Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) System” for the same technology in their vehicles. Regardless of how this system has been named by a specific car brand, the ECall Emergency System is a major post-collision emergency communication technology that reaches out to the nearest emergency services by using the cellular network of the car driver.
This is an exceptional technology, which has immense potential in minimizing the risk of casualties in dangerous road accidents. There are in-car sensors attached to this system that sense the triggering of airbags or the intensity of a collision to make an immediate call to the emergency services to receive immediate medical. The system activates automatically and can send details about the vehicle type, time of the crash and the current location of the vehicle to the emergency services.
Also read: Proactive Measures to Avoid Car Accidents in the UAE
Effectiveness of the ECall Emergency System in Vehicles
The ECall Emergency System in vehicles is considered to be a vital technology that can help in reducing the response time of emergency services by up to 40%. According to a research based on data of deaths caused by road accidents in the European Union, it was estimated that the ECall Emergency System can potentially save around 2,500 lives every year. Recognizing the effectiveness of the exceptional technology, the ECall Emergency System was made mandatory to be installed in all cars sold in the EU car markets by March 2018. The ECall Emergency System could be of critical importance in saving lives of motorists in the UAE when this technology will be mandatorily installed in all new cars from 2021.
Also read: 5 Tips to Drive Safely on Busy Highways of the UAE
What Does the Future Hold for Road Safety Situation in the UAE?
Many new initiatives have been taken by the authorities to achieve the goal of zero deaths per 100,000 people in the UAE by 2020 and to make the UAE roads safer than ever before. Some of the most recent road safety initiatives include the amendments made to the traffic law last year, upgrading the traffic monitoring system and implementation of the new seatbelt policy. The latest addition to these notable initiatives is the announcement of making the installation of ECall Emergency System mandatory in the new cars from 2021. The ultimate focus of the authorities remains on making the UAE one of the world’s safest countries for commuters and reducing the number of road fatalities to a bare minimum.
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