August 24, 2009 By News Report
The EU is calling for voluntary deployment of eCall -- a collision notification system that uses GPS and wireless communications to notify public safety agencies if a vehicle is involved in a crash. But if member states don't hurry up and provide the infrastructure voluntarily, officials say they are ready to mandate it.
"Too many people are still dying on European roads," said Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media, in a statement. "Every week I hear about road accidents where eCall would have helped. The time has come for member states and industry to move from talk to action ... I want to see the first eCall cars on our roads next year: 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."
EU-wide standards have been agreed to by industry, but six EU countries are not ready to commit, citing costs.
This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.
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Digital Communities (DC) is e.Republic‘s local government program. The particular strength of DC is its focus on encouraging collaboration and creating productive relationships between and among cities, counties, regions and select private sector companies uniquely positioned to help improve the delivery of public services.
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