Mercedes-Benz launches life saving printed stickers

Mercedes-Benz has launched a new printed sticker that it hopes will save lives in road traffic accidents.

The sticker is part of a new road safety initiative called Rescue Assist. As part of the program, stickers printed with a QR (Quick Response) code will be stuck to two locations in all Mercedes-Benz cars. In the event an emergency, rescue workers will be able to scan the sticker’s code using a smartphone or tablet, giving them instant access to vital information about the car.

This information will help them quickly identify how the car is structured, for example where the fuel tank is located, allowing them to cut the car in the safest place and get passengers out quickly. The sticker also provides important information about electric cars, which are the most dangerous cars to work with during a traffic accident.

It is estimated that the stickers will save crews over two minutes in road traffic accidents – which can be the difference between life and death in this situation. According to statistics, the sticker could help save lives in 3.3% of car accidents.

Fire services have welcomed the stickers, saying: “we’d like to be in a position where all cars have QR Codes, simply because it’s going to reduce the amount of time taken to extricate the casualty, which in turn is going to improve survival rates”. Previously emergency services rescue teams had to find the make and model of car and look it up in a database in order to find the information, and even then this was often difficult to find or out of date, meaning valuable time was lost.

All Mercedes-Benz cars (new and existing) can be fitted with the sticker, and Mercedes-Benz are also encouraging other car manufacturers to adopt the system. It’s great to see another use for the printed sticker, especially one that can save lives.