GM's OnStar division is sharing data that it collects from vehicles involved in crashes with emergency medical personnel so that they can determine more effective means of doing triage and responding to accidents.
OnStar'sAdvanced Automatic Crash Notification (AACN) technology uses sensors to determine the severity of accidents and automatically alerts the company's call center. GM has been collecting data from more than 2 million vehicles, and the idea is that by working with medical experts, better systems for first response can be developed. GM is donating $250,000 to organize a panel of 20 trauma experts to determine how to use the data.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is coordinating the information sharing. I never thought of auto accidents as a disease, but losing 40,000 people per year is a plague upon our nation that doesn't get enough attention.
While average citizens and the Congress are always raising attention about drunk driving (an incredibly important cause in its own right), we should really be looking at ways to reduce all kinds of accidents with an even greater vigor. Most accidents are avoidable, and we should be working harder at developing technology and driver training to reduce their number.
Source: OnStar
