Did you know that, in the event of an accident, your car can notify rescue workers not only of your position but also the likely extent of your injuries?While we spend a fair amount of time at Axis complaining about heavy and complicated cars, when I'm driving with my family in our BMW X5 I certainly derive a measure of comfort from the knowledge of all the safety work that has gone into a modern vehicle.
Dr. Jeffrey Augenstein passed away unexpectedly last week end. A safety consultant to BMW for many years, Dr Augenstein was directly responsible for the extremely high survivabily built into the current BMW line.
He devised the URGENCY Algorithm which enables a crashed car to send medically relevant crash data to first responders on the way to the scene, a feature now standard across the BMW line.
Here is a segment of BBC's 2011 Horizon episode "Surviving a Car Crash" featuring Dr. Augenstein.
Auto safety was only a small part of Jeffrey Augenstein's accomplishments in the field of trauma medicine, I urge you read his obituary in the Miami Herald.
I think you'll agree we, as drivers, lost a friend.
