Benefits assessment and establishment of safety need for Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) [eCALL] in Victoria

eCALL is considered to be an important technology that has the potential to reduce the number of deaths by facilitating rapid emergency response by automatically dialling an emergency call centre (e.g., ‘000’; ‘911’; ‘999’; ‘112’) in the event of a crash. Such benefits may only be seen, however, in deaths considered to be ‘potentially preventable’ as opposed to deaths that occur at the crash scene (or within a narrow window) due to severe multi-trauma associated with high blood loss and/or with injuries that are classified as untreatable where the survival probability is negligible.

For injured persons benefits may also include reductions in a patients length of stay (LOS) in hospital, fewer complications, fewer re-admissions and better functional outcomes. These benefits may result from the reduction in the time window for basic and advanced life support to commence at the roadside and the subsequent reduction in the time for the injured person to receive definitive trauma care. The project team is not aware of research in Victoria, Australia, that has sought to link these outcomes with time-to-care following a crash; hence, this project seeks to address this knowledge gap.

Time savings associated from eCALL can result from not only the immediate reporting of a crash but also by pinpointing the exact location of the crash. The potential benefit of eCALL was evidenced by crashes in the TAC-funded Enhanced Crash Investigation Study (ECIS) where delayed notification and difficulty locating the crash site were seen. A range of other potential benefits have been outlined in the recent Austroads report on eCALL, along with associated implementation costs.
MUARC has previously examined the likely benefits of eCALL. MUARC also has significant expertise in the conduct of cost-benefit analysis particularly as it relates to the implementation of vehicle regulations through the Australian Design Rule (ADR) system and the UN WP.29 process.

This project aims to assess the likely benefits, cost and implementation requirements of eCALL for Victoria. It is expected that the TAC will be able to use the findings of the project to promote the benefits of eCall. the use of standard benefit-cost ratio (BCR) assessment methods, it is expected that the Report will also be of value informing future policy on the fitment of eCALL fitment into vehicles.