In a serious auto accident, the difference between life and death, or between full recovery or permanent disability, may be a matter of seconds. Fire fighters, who are the rescue workers dispatched to the scene in most countries, are highly trained paramedics and have the tools to quickly cut open a car as easily as a tin can to remove injured occupants. Typically, there are also ambulances standing by to rush the most seriously injured to hospital as soon as the victims are removed from the car.

With literally thousands of makes and models of cars on the roads, where to start when passengers need to be removed from a car may pose a problem. The problem may be compounded by the need to turn off the ignition to prevent fire or explosion or to disable airbags before extracting the car’s occupants.

When Jan Mooij became aware of this problem a few years ago after reading some newspaper articles, he believed he saw a solution. Being director of Moditech IT Solutions B.V., a company specializing in computerized measurement systems for frame alignment that has been working in the collision repair industry for over ten years, Jan knew that his company had the data in its databases that fire fighters needed at the accident scene. Now, with the assistance of RAM Mobile Data Nederland and the Utrecht Fire Department, Moditech’s Crash Recovery System (CRS) is ready for launch.

“We tried to make the application as simple as possible,” says Jan Mooij. “Using a wireless handheld PC at the accident scene, rescue workers simply enter the vehicle’s registration number. CRS then retrieves the make and model of the car from the motor vehicle registry and instantly displays this information along with drawings generated from our database showing top and side views of the car with the best locations for cutting clearly marked. If necessary, advanced levels of information can be accessed, showing details of the components of the Safety Restraint System (SRS) and where these components are located in the car.”

In developing CRS, Moditech found an enthusiastic supporter in Gerard Wiebes, senior commander and instructor at the Utrecht Fire Department, who contributed invaluable knowledge and experience during the design and testing phases. After successful field trials in Utrecht, Moditech and RAM Mobile Data are introducing CRS in the Dutch market, and Moditech is eager to launch the product elsewhere in Europe and in other markets. .