European Union News - Civil Protection

The Joint Research Centre has conducted a series of measurements to check the efficiency of pedestrian dummies in testing autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems in conventional cars. Conclusions show that results of the 2 frequency bands do not show significant differences. However, in the higher frequency bands, the height of the pedestrian has a clearer effect on the RCS averages observed.

The European Commission announced that it reached an agreement with The European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators' Associations (ECTAA) for promoting the pan-European emergency number '112' on their websites, on e-tickets, and at major tourist destinations.

The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) which provides updated and reliable information on wild land fires in Europe supporting forest fire prevention and fire-fighting services in the European countries, has issued a statement with the current situation in the UE. Despite of a slight improvement forecast in the situation at the beginning of this week, fire danger conditions remain very high in the western part of the Mediterranean region, in Portugal, Spain and France.

The European Commission published the figures on the progress in cutting EU road deaths and they show that the very promising EU-wide reduction throughout the last decade (-6%) was in 2011 reduced to -2%. The Commission also warned that the tend is reversing in countries who used to have very strong safety records, such as Germany and Sweden.

The European Commission announced that the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism has its 32nd member the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Civil Protection Mechanism facilitates European cooperation in disaster response.

According to the European Commission, 74% of Europeans don't know what emergency number to call when travelling in the EU. This is the reason why many major rail, air and other transport companies have joined Commission's Vice Presidents Neelie Kroes and Siim Kallas call for carrying out a campaign to raise 112 awareness rates.

These measures intend to achieve a better coordination between Member states and the European Union in cases where biological, chemical or environmental health factors can trigger serious cross-border health threats. According to the proposal, the Commission would be empowered in very special cases to adopt emergency cross-border measures such as infected citizens screening.

The European Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) delivered a coordinated EU operation with aerial assets provided by Spain, France and Italy following the request made by Greece and Albania in fighting forest fires.

The consultation intends seeking opinions from the European citizens on standards that will harmonize the EU-wide approach to data which covers 25 themes including land cover, buildings, soil, land-use, energy, health and safety. The standards will facilitate cross-border integration and analysis of environmental data, modelling, and forecasting activities in many policy areas.