Firm works on ‘accident tracker’
A LOCAL firm is working on a new vehicle system that alerts emergency services within seconds of an accident, determining the level of response required and the damage to the vehicle.
CAPE TOWN — A South African company is working on a new vehicle system that works like a tracking device but alerts emergency services within seconds of an accident, determining the level of response required and the damage to the vehicle.
The technology, based on software used to simulate motor vehicle crash tests in the US, is being adapted to local conditions to manage accidents and ensure motorists and vehicles receive help almost immediately.
Resource Tracking, the company behind the importation of the system, is owned by former MP Vincent Gore, himself a victim of a car accident in 1996 that left him wheelchair-bound.
“I strongly believe that if such a system had been around (at the time of the accident) I would have received the necessary medical treatment in time that may have prevented me from being disabled for the rest of my life,” Mr Gore said.
An electrical engineer, he said he came across the system in the US.
Crashboxx is based on computer modelling software developed to cut the costs of crashing a motor vehicle and to determine the damage to the vehicle and its occupants in a collision. It uses algorithms to determine the results of such impacts. These mathematical formulae can also determine the level of injury sustained.
Resource Tracking is modifying the software for South African conditions with the aim of putting it in motor vehicles, as is done with vehicle tracking systems.
SA has one of the highest motor vehicle accident rates in the world and the International Traffic Forum’s 2013 report estimated the cost to SA’s economy at R307bn annually.
Mr Gore says Crashboxx can determine within 10 seconds of an accident
Such a system could help SA to achieve the ‘platinum 15 minutes’ response time in getting to an accident in which serious injuries have been suffered
what damage has been caused, the estimated cost of the damage, and whether medical assistance or other emergency resources are required.
He said testing of the system was about to start in SA but it had already received some international certification. SA would be the first country after the US to implement it.
ER24.com spokesman Werner Vermaak — who said he had not heard of Crashboxx before — said that such a system could help SA to achieve the “platinum 15 minutes” response time in getting to an accident in which serious injuries have been suffered.