An Analysis of the Socio-Economic and Human Life Impact of Implementing the eCall In Vehicle System (IVS) in the Purpose of Ensuring Sustainable, Improved Rescue Operations on European Roads

Abstract

Ensuring a higher degree of road safety contributes both to the quality of transport services and to the level of the costs involved in rescue operations. The initiation points of managing a rescue operation are situational awareness on accident detection and the appropriate assessment of the required resources. The eCall in Vehicle System (eCall IVS) for passenger vehicles aims to minimize rescue team arrival times to accident sites, and meet assignment needs in the rescue chain. Implementation costs and benefits for the eCall IVS have been investigated, providing implications for rescue operations management. The findings show that the benefits of eCall IVS implementation outweigh the costs, and savings achieved in the rescue operations are obtained by shortening the time to reach the place of the accident and by efficient intervention through a more accurate allocation of the necessary resources, due to timely and relevant information.