Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ALL NEW CARS sold in Ireland from next April will be able to call the emergency services in the event of a crash.
In six months all new models of cars must have an electronic safety system built-in that will automatically call Ireland’s emergency call answering service (ECAS) in the event of a serious accident.
eCall is a European-wide initiative introduced to bring fast assistance to motorists involved in a collision anywhere in the EU.
How does it work?
Once the car senses a severe impact the eCall device automatically initiates a 112 emergency call to ECAS. It then transmits vehicle’s exact location to emergency services, the time of incident and the direction of travel (most important on motorways).
Even if the driver is unconscious or unable to make the call, perhaps due to injuries, a minimum set of data is sent, which includes the exact location of the crash site.
Whether the call is made manually or automatically, there will always be a voice connection between the vehicle and emergency services.
The alert can also be triggered manually by pushing a button in the car, for example by the driver or witness of the accident.
It’s believed the alert system will cut emergency services’ response time in the countryside by 50% and in built-up areas by 60%.
The quicker response will save hundreds of lives in the EU every year, with the EU stating the severity of injuries will also be considerably reduced in tens of thousands of cases.
As eCall normally ‘sleeps’, it does not allow vehicle tracking outside emergencies. Concern over data sharing was one of the reasons the roll-out of the new system was delayed.
Though the proposal was first flagged in 2012, due to worries about privacy concerns it was held back. However, it was eventually agreed that only basic data will be sent and only when an accident occurs.
In order to be ready for the start date, Ireland’s emergency call answering service has been upgraded to ensure its infrastructure can handle the new technology.
Plus, the system will have to undergo rigorous certification testing over the coming months to ensure it is ready to go live on 1 April 2018.
The project to upgrade Ireland’s ECAS for the implementation of eCall was completed in advance of the deadline of 1 October.
The technology was first proposed in 2012, but legislation was delayed amid privacy concerns.
Communications Minister Denis Naughten said the new technology is similar to the recently launched mobile phone precise location technology, which texts your exact location in the case of an emergency.
He said eCall technology will have a similar effect and will save lives by ensuring the emergency services get to drivers involved in road traffic accidents faster.
“The advancements in precise location technology both in our cars and on our phones ensures our emergency personnel are supported in their work with modern technology that will have a profound effect in practice,” he said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Big brother everywhere. It’s a good idea in theory but also has tracking built in so there’s no escape.
@Tom Phelan: #RFID
@Tom Phelan: this is very intrusive technology that is being sold as a safety feature. You will be constantly monitored in your car from now on, yea it’s brilliant.
@Tom Phelan:
You’re right. Part of the initiative will be monitoring of traffic flow so tracking cars will be an integral part of the system.
Car manufactures who install these devices will also have access to their location. Putting ones trust in large corporations to act in an ethical manner on this is irresponsible to say the least.
@Dean Moriarity:
Not introducing it is irresponsible. Conspiracy theorists are dangerous
@Nick Allen: not legalising hemp is irresponsible.
@Nick Allen: dogma is irresponsible.
You guys read about Sesame Credit in China? In 2020, China is going full on 1984. Terrifying stuff.
https://youtu.be/idNtUC-ABnY Explained here if anyone’s interested
@Tom Phelan: You hiding something Tom? Do tell…
@Martin Flood: if I was I wouldn’t be here. Just trying to get the more people aware I suppose.
@Martin Flood: Dave Cullen fan here too. Thanks for that!
@Tom Phelan: He might read these comments… Dave if you can hear me, give me a sign!
@Nick Allen: numptys are dangerous too but we accept them in our society.
@Tom Phelan: Sure your mobile phone can be tracked now…
@Tom Phelan: your phone is tracked already. And this system saves lives in US for decades now..
@Dean Moriarity: of course they could also track the speed at which the vehicle is traveling. So no need for speed cameras in future and the fines will become automatic too. Big Brother will arrive.
@Tom Phelan: No escape from what?
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: That is excellent news. Speed cameras and garda speed checks only catch the people who drive in those areas, so everybody else gets away with it . If all speeders are detected automatically, we will have a much fairer system where you either choose to speed, and get caught, or choose not to, and don’t get caught. We also won’t have to worry about “human error”, or whatever the guards might call it.
@Tom Phelan: Ah there’s always one. Who cares if their movements are being tracked? I couldn’t care less if big brother knows where I am, it makes absolutely no difference to me, and shouldn’t to anyone living a normal crime free life.
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: Don’t speed and you won’t get fined.
@Tom Phelan: you can disable it if you want to.
@Tom Phelan: Stupidity is very dangerous in the stupid hands.
No doubt criminal gangs will welcome the extra cash by offering a service to disable it.
@David Murphey: “you can disable it if you want to” and “government is not spying you” and “your personal data will not share with third parties” and more more more LIES !!!
I don’t remember voting on this.
@Dean Moriarity: that’s alright, neither do our MEP’s.
Hack proof?
@David Huston: 100% Not
@Dean Moriarity:
Did you vote in the last general election and if so do you understand the implications of voting in a general election?
@David Huston:
What are u asking is Hack proof? Is it the sending of the location of the accident after it happens? Or maybe is it geolocation services like a SatNav which are become standard in cars or like a mobile phone?
@Nick Allen: it’s a privacy matter not a safety measure. This whole charade is about data collection not safety assurance.
@Tom Phelan: where did you get your tin foil hat?
@Tom Phelan: easy solution. Don’t buy a new car.
@David: In the original terms of the Irish Water ‘contract’ first published on their site and then hastily removed. Cop yourself on there David.
This is out and out invading privacy. MS o Ceilleachair is spot on. The PSC will probably match you to whatever car you’re driving.
@Tom Phelan: your dead right this has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with tracking people’s movements , I wonder will it be illegal now to remove the device ? That’s the next law that will pass
@James2015: it’s a safety device, the small print in your insurance policy states that you should not alter safety devices, even turning off esp in your car voids your policy, something a lot of drivers are not aware of.
Yes, of course we should stretch our already over stretched ambulance service to every motor accident – 70% of whom do not require an ambulance. Explain that to a person with chest pain who waits 2 hours while the ambulance responds to that “accident ” ….. wow!!!
@Caroline Egan: Explain that to the woman whose body recently spent a day behind a tree at the side of the road because nobody saw her and nobody was there to call the emergency services.
@Caroline Egan: Oh Lordie! It’s a good thing for God’s sake. If anything it makes their job easier
@Caroline Egan: also, it doesn’t automatically call emergency services, it will call the driver first, if no response then the emergency services will be called.
@Caroline Egan: Spy us to save us from ourselves. Not a new idea, came already in Soviet Russia or Hotler’s Germany.
People concerned about tracking devices installed in their vehicle who carry tracking devices (aka mobile phone) every day.
@Fake Avast: Ha Ha off to Siberia with you so!
@The Dons: Say something wrong about someone’s skin colour or sexual preferences and we never see you here again.
The poor firemen and ambulance men will be pestered non stop by M50 crashes every few minutes.
@Byron D: and who will pay for the callouts??
@Ian Breathnach: whoever is at fault for the accident..their insurance company would have to
@anthony marren: Not accidents, collisions. Accident infers that no one is to blame.
@Michael Lynch: Surely accident infers lack of intent, not blame.
@Conor O’Farrell: watch Hot Fuzz
Reckon tesco will have run out of tin foil again soon the way this thread is going
Another excuse for insurance companies to hit you with higher premiums if your car doesn’t have this tech
@Barra O Brien: another excuse for insurance companies to hit you also if you do have it ,cost of fire brigade & medical services. Damned if we do & damned if we don’t.
@Barra O Brien: Each dictatorship praise you if you cooperate. Fascism, communism, globalism are all same.
No opt out available, the revolution will be geolocated
@Zx5vZulB: well like any feature on your car you can alter it BUT it’s a safety feature and if you disabled it your insurance won’t cover you.
@Tom Phelan: Have you seen the insurance policies then? Jeez some people know it all.
@Tom Phelan: wrong!
That’s like the recent rumour that said if you drive your car during a Red Alert weather warning your car insurance is invalid. That was false too.
The next move will be a fine or a bigger fine if you don’t immediately cough up, for not being there when the privatised (Cash on Arrival) emergency services get to the scene of your fender bender. Meanwhile, rash of small and medium sized business entrepreneurs will launch a meal and massage service (MAMS) while you wait twenty years for all that to happen. Public Service Card will be required for the mandatory re-registration of all cars and the associated driver(s) and any unaccompanied learner drivers will be taken to Siberia for re-orientation. Terms and conditions apply. This service will be regulated by the Bank of Ireland which means nothing really.
Just like the automatic reversing, it’s another small step on the path to automation.
The next small step will be when the car uses Google Maps to check the speed limit on a road and prevents us human’s from breaking the speed limit. Wow that’s actually a good idea, right? If keeping us safe was the end goal then yes it is a good idea, but it’s not.
The end goal is to ban humans from driving at all to keep all the new automated vehicles safe.
The companies spending billions and billions of US dollars on automated vehicles know that humans are where the real risk comes from and their massive investment demands that humans are taken out of the equation.
Does it matter if we aren’t allowed to drive? Well, the first humans to lose out on driving will be anyone who works in taxis, delivery vans, lorries or buses – Basically, if you work as a driver start looking around for a new job now. e.g. UBER taxi’s create lots of jobs.. Not for long, UBER automated taxi’s are being tested in the States as I type and will be here soon enough. Once we are used to seeing automated vehicles on the road it’s a slippery slope to demonising human drivers as too dangerous to drive, and since that’s true society will gradually accept that humans shouldn’t be allowed to drive at all.
Job done.
@Northern Craic: BUT, Computers will be safer than humans! Driving is shit in our average 1.4 petrol car. The only people that want to drive are kids. Bring it on, I’m sick of driving, Bring on the AI says I.
@Tom Phelan: less responsibility, fantastic news don’t you think?
I’ve had to use this before in a bmw it’s a good idea. 1st time was when I was in an accident the car automatically connected with a recovery centre managed by BMW, second time was when I came across a distressed looking man walking on the m9 motorway in the early hours of a winter morning and I didn’t know where I was to locate the chap. The little red button is helpful.
Also now that cars can transmit imei numbers into a cellular network car theft should lower and help insurance cost
However – the guys out there saying big brother is watching- the cars have been gathering OBD telemetry information for over 20 years and Power curves / throttle / braking inputs and impact force for airbag deployment is widely available and used by forensics when ever needed by simply reading the data .
@Ollie Conroy:
There are a few brave souls coming around here with facts….
Fools errand.
Not so much good news for sh!t getaway drivers.
What if I buy a car in the UK how will it work
@Paul O Keeffe: GPS stands for Global Positioning System. “GLOBAL” – check a dictionary.
@Martin Flood: But this initiative to put the device into all new cats is an EU thing, and the UK is leaving the UK.
@Martin Flood: my phone has GPS but can’t ring an international number.
@Paul O Keeffe: Peugeot and some other manufacturers have this system in the UK and Europe for a number of years now already. Ireland only beginning to think of catching up.
@The Dons: Link? They have an automatic system?
@Ne: the poor cats. And the UK is leaving……itself?
@Father Hody Commody: yes Peugeots system Peugeot Connect SOS has been available country dependant, including UK as far back as 2013! Its also available in Ireland from at least last year. No big deal when our phones have been tracking us for years. http://www.peugeot.ie/brand-and-technology/online-services/be-safe.html
So one of Eircode alleged selling point has been superseded
@lavbeer: can you explain?
Be great to catch those hit and run shits and hopefully save a few people from dying alone on the road
@Seán O’Sullivan: that’s like the vaccine bs, immunise 100% so we can protect 2% from death.
@Seán O’Sullivan:
The victims of hit and runs are pedestrians and cyclists. This technology will be of no use unless the vehicle involved crashes and comes to a standstill.
@Tom Phelan:
Wow Tom, u must be very dumb
@Nick Allen: never been sick and never had a vaccine @51, must be healthy.
@Tom Phelan: wow – you have a major gripe about this huh? It’s like your whole world caved in this morning.
Good idea in theory but as far as i’m aware this technology calls just the guards..not the fire service or ambulance service which should be also deployed seeing as the car has been in an accident
@anthony marren: At least someone will be aware of the crash. The article says that it dials 112.
This thread shows everything that is wrong with a lot of Journal commenters. Everything is bad, everyone is out to get you! Run for the hills before the evil government destroys you!
@Dublin Rover: Every day they get worse and worse. A mixture of paranoia, ignorance, plain old stupidity. Top prize for the loon connecting it to that other obvious evil – vaccination! #sad
They will also upload voice and video data of the interior of the vehicle to the big cloudy server just in case.
Obviously this will not apply if the vehicle was purchased by funds from an offshore trust.
Can this be used to fine speeding drivers? That would make the whole country roads so much safer. And coffers full
I backed out of the purchase of an Opel because of their online system. They could not assure me that the telemetry info the had on the car could be handed to anyone else.
E.g. crashing while doing 62kms in a 60 zone, your car then implicates you in a ‘crime’. It will be disabled in my car.
I always knew there were advantages to being a biker low running costs cheap insurance no nct and this is just another one that the list the peace of mind that you have knowing that Big Brother is not sitting on the back watching every move I make.
In light of the Ecas service getting rolled out and the government rolling out PSC cards Tesco are introducing a new line. F&F Tin Foil Hats one size fits all.
Who pays for the sim card and connection to the mobile networks ?
Will this be an annual subscription ?
@Joseph Potter: You don’t need a SIM card in a mobile phone to make a 112 call.
The tin foil hat brigade out in force over privacy issues! This technology is already included in at least 6 makes of cars available in Ireland already. Stay in your bunkers lads!
Which service is it calling though? You cold have the same accident in every county at present and get a different response from gardai/NAS/fire. Especially the countryside where fire brigades are retained. Or so comes down to money, morals and who’s on charge.
@Grant Masterson: it dials the 112 answering centre who then forward the call to most appropriate service or services depending on what’s happened and where you are.
Exact same as what happens if you dial 112 on your phone
You won’t see any of the drug dealers with these cars, lol, although it is intrusive I am OK with it as it will save lives, the times we are living in now and more so in the future will lead us all to having big brother watch over us, won’t effect most people as they have nothing to hide, but I still don’t like it in a lot of ways,
All vehicles will be tracked and monitored in the very near future as autonomous vehicles begin to replace driver-operated vehicles. In many other countries and for over 10 years, General Motors products have featured ‘OnStar’ communications which functionally does the same thing.
Regarding Tom Phelan’s comments – we really are a fear-driven society, aren’t we?
I’d rather a device that would order and “deliver by drone” as I drive along, a chicken korma, nan bread, rice and mango chutney. In the meantime, would this device also be able to inform the surgeons eagerly awaiting my mortal remains for carving, cutting up and bottling for medical research? They have only 48 hours to “retrieve” me. …and I owe the milkman €24.80.
What a stupid idea.
And people are worried about identity cards?
have your say