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VDA: Faster help with digital rescue data sheets

VDA, VDIK and ADAC present new rescue software to Federal Transport Minister Ramsauer; start on 1 February   Joint press release from Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS), German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Association of Motor Vehicle Importers (VDIK) and the ADAC automobile club In future, fire and rescue services … Continued

VDA, VDIK and ADAC present new rescue software to Federal Transport Minister Ramsauer; start on 1 February  

Joint press release from Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS), German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Association of Motor Vehicle Importers (VDIK) and the ADAC automobile club

In future, fire and rescue services will be able to help at road traffic accidents even faster and more precisely than before. Starting immediately, all the necessary data sheets containing information for rescuing persons from vehicles involved in accidents are available in electronic form at the rescue control centres. The digital rescue data sheets contain safety information about critical components such as tanks, batteries and airbags. The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the Association of Motor Vehicle Importers (VDIK) and the German automobile club ADAC have presented a software solution to the German Federal Minister of Transport, Dr Peter Ramsauer, which rescue services can use to request the relevant rescue data sheet for almost all models of passenger cars.

Minister Ramsauer has already put the legislation in place for calling up vehicle-related information (based on the vehicle’s licence plate) directly from the database of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). It will enter into force on 1 February 2013.

Dr Peter Ramsauer, Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, said, “When an accident occurs every minute counts. The rescue services need all the key information as fast as possible, so that they can free the occupants safely from their vehicle. I have had the German Vehicle Registration Law [Fahrzeug-Zulassungsverordnung] amended so that the rescue control centres can call up the necessary data for identifying the vehicle from the KBA. The direct line to Flensburg will avoid life-threatening delays. The digital rescue data sheet is a major step towards being able to help at the scene of an accident faster and more precisely – and thus also a major step towards greater safety in road traffic.”

The Deutsche Automobil-Treuhand (the German Car Trust Agency, DAT) has produced the “SilverDAT FRS” software on behalf of the VDA, VDIK and ADAC. It takes only a few seconds to access the information required. The fire service radios the licence number of a vehicle involved in an accident to the rescue control centre. There the licence number is entered in the user interface of the program, which now connects to the DAT database. The DAT server calls up the licence number at the KBA and automatically receives the information about the particular vehicle model. The DAT software can find the correct rescue data sheet for over 1,100 different vehicle models from the widest range of manufacturers and years of manufacture, and display it on the monitors in the rescue control centre. The control centre sends the rescue data sheet to the fire service’s mobile device – such as a laptop or a tablet PC.

VDA President Matthias Wissmann stressed: “The new rescue data sheet software is available right away. Now it is important that the rescue control centres in Germany order and install the software. The automotive industry provides highly innovative technology, and we now have an impressive solution for providing exactly the right rescue data sheets for all cars. The new system also proves that the automotive industry leads in the continual improvement of road safety. This applies both to active and to passive safety systems in vehicles. Furthermore, the new rescue data sheet makes a decisive contribution to mitigating the consequences of accidents.”

ADAC President Peter Meyer pointed out the importance of the “rescue chart” for members of Europe’s largest automobile club: “The digital rescue chart, a further development of the successful paper version, represents another significant joint step in the right direction. In the future it will be possible to transfer all the necessary information electronically, directly to the site of an accident, thus possibly gaining seconds crucial to rescuing the accident victims.”

The VDIK’s Managing Director, Dr Thomas Almeroth, said, “This initiative by the automotive manufacturers, who jointly launched the project and have now also financed online access to the rescue data sheets, is an important step in the further reduction of the number of casualties in road accidents. The vehicle makers are naturally driving forward major developments in their vehicles’ active and passive safety.”

The first rescue data sheets appeared in the mid-1990s. Since 2008 the vehicle manufacturers in Germany have been offering standardised rescue data sheets for each model as downloads. A sheet provides the rescue services at the scene with vehicle-specific information they can use to rescue people. The sheets contain diagrams showing not only tanks, batteries and airbags, but other components too, such as belt tensioners, structural reinforcements and high voltage components in electric vehicles. The new system was developed in co-operation with the ADAC.

Further information about the new software is available (in German) on DAT’s Internet pages: http://www.dat.de/angebote/informationssysteme/silverdat-frs-feuerwehr-rettungsdatenblatt-system.html

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