| The Fully Networked Car, A Workshop on ICT in Vehicles |
A B S T R A C T |
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| Speaker: |
Masatoshi Morita, Assistant Director for ITS
Traffic Planning Division, Traffic Bureau, National Police Agency of Japan
2-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8974 Japan
Phone : +81-3-3581-0141(ext5081)
Fax : +81-3-3593-2375 |
| Session 4: |
eCall |
| Session Moderator: |
Wolfgang A. Reinhardt, Director Regulatory Affairs, ACEA (The Association of European Vehicle Manufacturers) |
| Title of Presentation: |
Current Status and Future Plan of HELP (Help System for Emergency Life saving and Public safety) |
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Japanese Police have been promoting the UTMS (Universal Traffic Management Systems; ITS developed by Japanese Police). HELP is one of subsystems of UTMS
― a system that contributes to safety driving.
In recent years, emergency calls (Dial 110 calls) from mobile phones have been increasing very rapidly with the expanding use of mobile phones, which already accounts for more than half the total number of emergency calls. In many cases, it is difficult to identify the location of a caller and it causes delay of the emergency vehicle's arrival.
In order to solve this problem, the National Police Agency has developed and has been improving the HELP (Help System for Emergency Life Saving and Public Safety). In this system, when an emergency incident occurs while driving, an in-vehicle unit and a cellular phone automatically transmit caller location information obtained from GPS to the operation center, and then automatically activate voice communication with the operation center staff by either manually turning on the "HELP switch" of an in-vehicle unit or by the automatic call activation function of the impact detector. I would like to introduce current status and future plan of HELP.
1. Background
(1) Present situation of traffic accident in Japan
The number of traffic fatalities was 7,358 in 2004 in Japan. This represents decrease of 344 (4.5% decrease) from a year ago. However, the number of traffic accidents and traffic injuries increased. To achieve our new target of 5,000 or fewer fatalities per year by 2012, or reduction of the number of traffic accidents, further efforts are needed to promote comprehensive measures for traffic safety, especially the traffic safety measures using ITS.
(2) Current Status of Dial 110
Mobile phones have rapidly spread since 1997, and Dial 110 calls from mobile phones make up 57% of the total Dial 110 in 2004, a 2.2% increase from 2003. In many cases, it is difficult to find out the caller location, which causes delay of the emergency vehicle's arrival. Therefore, Japanese police have conducted research and experiment aimed at introduction of HELP since 1997, and installed HELP since 1999.
2. The outline of HELP
(1) Function
When an emergency incident occurs while driving, an in-vehicle unit and a cellular phone automatically transmit location information obtained from GPS, individual vehicle ID, and time to the operation center, and then automatically activate voice communication with the operation center staff by either manually turning on the "HELP switch" of an in-vehicle unit or by the automatic call activation function of the impact detector.
Upon receipt of the notification of the accident, the operation center contacts an appropriate emergency organization and transfer the location information of an emergency site, if necessary.
(2) Benefits
HELP reduces the time lag from occurrence to reporting of an accident by 40% (from 15 minutes to 9 minutes).
(3) Status of the installation
All command and control centers of prefectural police headquarters in Japan are equipped with devices to receive location and other information obtained from the HELPNET center. So, HELP is available everywhere in Japan.
3. Future plans
In order to improve safe traffic environment, it is needed to work with auto manufacturers to promote the HELP system so that the in-vehicle unit equipped with the HELP system will prevail and be installed in all new cars.
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