Awareness of 112 emergency line must increase, Brussels insists

Too many Maltese remain oblivious as to which number they have to call in an emergency and the European Commission is again calling on Malta to step up its efforts to raise awareness on the 112 service.

A survey among 1,500 respondents last month shows a marked improvement in awareness but almost one in three adults remain clueless about which telephone number to dial in case of an emergency.

According to the latest Eurobarometer study, issued to mark European 112 Day, 56 per cent of Maltese respondents know whom to call if they wanted the assistance of the police, an ambulance or a fire engine. Although this represents an improvement of 14 percentage points over last year’s survey, too many Maltese citizens are still unable to correctly indicate the number.

A total of 33.6 per cent of respondents in Malta said they did know whom to call if they happened to have an emergency. This contrasts sharply with the situation in other member states where only 6.2 per cent of respondents were unaware of the emergency service number. Only Cyprus, with 40.2 per cent, had a bigger share of its population who had no knowledge of it.

When it comes to the general European emergency number, also 112, the knowledge among Maltese citizens is worse.

According to the survey, 77.7 per cent had no idea what number to dial when asked to name the emergency services number in case they had an accident in another member state. This situation is common in the rest of the EU populations, with the level of those unaware of the single European emergency number standing at an average 65.5 per cent.

Asked whether they had seen or heard any information promoting the service in the previous 12 months, the majority of Maltese, 51.8 per cent, said they had not.

On the other hand, the majority of those that did, 42.5 per cent, said they got the information from television (70.8 per cent) and newspapers (19.5 per cent).

Commenting on the results, European Digital Agenda Commissioner Nellie Kroes said more had to be done across Europe to ensure citizens were aware of this important number.

The EU introduced new rules over the past years to raise more awareness about this emergency service.

Since July 2009, people who use their mobile phone or devices while roaming in another EU country should receive an SMS or alert message from the network operators with information about 112. However, according to the survey, 81 per cent of EU citizens who travelled to another member state claimed they never received any such information.

Under the EU telecom rules to be implemented by May, information must also be made available to travellers, for example in airports, train stations and international bus terminals across all member states.