MOSCOW, March 06. /ITAR-TASS/. Starting from January 1, 2017, all vehicles produced in Russia or imported from abroad will use the ERA-GLONASS National Accident Emergency Response System, aimed principally at providing rapid treatment for those injured in traffic accidents and supporting the national emergency call system 112, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told government colleagues on Thursday.

ERA-GLONASS “has been completely established by now and covers all regions of our country”, he said recalling that the project aimed “to save people’s lives due to higher accuracy and reduced time for emergency response to traffic accidents in our country”.

Sokolov said the system makes it possible to compile a complete set of data on the accident, to transmit information to the 112 system for emergency response and to automatically connect an injured person with system operators.

“Transmitting information on the accident is free of charge,” Sokolov said.

He noted that ERA-GLONASS would operate throughout the entire territory of Russia where “mobile communications of any kind are present”. To secure uninterrupted functioning of the system in the remotest regions of the country not covered by mobile services, there are plans to use the Gonets civilian low Earth orbit communication satellite system to transmit a signal to the ERA-GLONASS system.

Sokolov said the system was expected to reach break-even by 2019. Its operation until then will be secured by the government. Russia’s Transport Ministry has already invited the biggest Russian companies partially-owned by the state to join the nation-wide navigation and information platform, established within the scope of the ERA-GLONASS project.

Regulations are now in force obliging vehicle manufacturers to equip new light commercial and freight vehicles with onboard terminals. These will enable emergency response services to receive exact coordinates and other details of road accidents. Terminals are already fitted to Russian ambulances.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said 19,840 ambulance cars — 94% of the total number — had been equipped with ERA-GLONASS terminals by now, with the exception of old vehicles. The emergency response system has also been established in 2,659 ambulance stations.

Plans are to extend coverage across all the nation's roads and the entire vehicle fleet, calculated as 40 million vehicles. Vehicle owners will also be able to use their terminals to access additional services related to navigation and information exchange.