Nearly two years ago, I wrote about the EU's proposed "e-call" system, in-car technology linked to GPS (and in time Galileo) which could automatically alert the emergency services in the event of a crash, when the driver is incapacitated or rendered unconscious.The US has a similar system, funded as a private-venture enterprise, which is attracting thousands of subscribers. The difference here, though, is that the Socialist Republic of the European Union wants a state-run system, controlled by its gifted bureaucrats in Brussels.
Its ambitions, however, have been stalled by the unwillingness of enough of its vassal states to cough up the dosh, which means that it is having difficulty meeting its proposed roll-out target of 2014.
Undismayed, however, we now learn that the Brussels Taleban are flexing their muscles, and have decided that, unless the member states play ball, they will make the system compulsory.
"If the eCall roll-out does not accelerate, the Commission stands ready to set out clear rules obliging governments, industry and emergency services to respond," says Mullah Viviane Reding. "I want to see the first eCall cars on our roads next year."
So there if have it – if you do not volunteer, you will be volunteered. And the difference between the EU Commission and the Taleban is?
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