The specialist eCall consultancy and software company VESOS Solutions is calling for more analysis of automated alerts to cut down false alarms reaching 999 control rooms.
This follows a huge spike in calls from smart watches at a music festival in Leicestershire, when more than 700 calls were triggered when they thought the wearer had been in a crash, when in fact they were dancing energetically to music.
Personal alerting is a safety feature now built into many phones and wearable devices,
to detect unexpected falls or rapid acceleration/deceleration. but have been known to trigger calls when wearers jump around or ride on rollercoasters.
Alerts are often triggered to allow the user/wearer to cancel the alert, however some are not, and once an alert is triggered, it can be sent to a service centre or alternatively direct to 999. Alerts can provide additional data which could include a location, which is useful for the responding emergency service.
VESOS’s TeCall platform ensures only genuine and validated eCall data from vehicles is presented to emergency services and road operators with false alarms filtered out and data then presented automatically into emergency Command and Control systems. The same technology could be used for mobile alerts.
“More than 75,000 people attended the Download Festival, so this was a major public order event in the county, and despite the request to switch off watches, there were still more than 700 false activations to the 999 system in Leicestershire,” commented Andy Rooke of VESOS. “This is not the first time that instances such as these have happened, notably at a US theme park. To prevent false alerts, the device user could try to disable them which is not a simple process The key rests with the device manufacturer and system operator, who have the capability to alert the sensitivity of the algorithm which triggers the call.
“VESOS as a leader in eCall technology recognise the issue of false call activation across a range of devices, and have specific applications to mitigate false calls. The devices here are not in vehicle eCall, but the similarity between all devices is well understood as is the disruptive effect high volume false calls can have on a control room.”
eCall automatically raises the alarm in the event of a crash when the airbags are deployed, and it can also be manually activated by the driver or passenger by pressing the eCall SOS button. It has been installed in all newly approved cars and vans across the UK and Europe since 2018.
(Picture – Yay Images)
