Ian Martens/The Globe and Mail When a car rolls over or collides with something, sensors inside gather critical information such as the vehicle’s speed at impact, whether the airbags were deployed and how many people were inside. Modern vehicles collect more than 120 pieces of data – information that could help an ambulance dispatcher determine whether to send advanced life support technicians and what kind of equipment the local hospital might need. But Canada’s emergency communications system, which is based on 1970s technology, can’t access this data. Instead, workers at call centres staffed by the car manufacturers relay the information verbally to operators at Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), government-run centres that handle 9-1-1 calls. The system is not only time-consuming but also error-prone, says Holly Barkwell, the Canadian regional director for the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), an international organization focused on 9-1-1 policy and technology. “The potential for errors on data entry is pretty significant because they’re typing at high rates of speed,” Ms. Barkwell says.