South Korean experts to establish emergency call service

According to South Korean news agency Yonhapnews, a group of electronics and intelligent transport systems experts have established a forum to initiate the establishment of an electronic safety system that automatically calls emergency services when there's a car accident.

The group, from Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and Intelligent Transport Systems Korea, said the service would use an e-call device in vehicles to sense when a serious accident has occurred and to automatically make a 119 emergency call.

If the service goes operational, South Korea is expected to reduce the death toll from traffic accidents by 2-3 percent, or 100-150 deaths, per year.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning has worked closely with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to introduce the e-call service as part of efforts to cut traffic-related deaths.

ETRI, which is developing in-vehicle communication technology, will be responsible for the entire process ranging from overall management of the technology development to its standardisation and demonstration.