In a recent Intrado webinar, public safety experts and some of the authors of Intrado's 2026 State of the 9-1-1 Industry Report discuss what Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) and Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) could mean for the 40,000 lives lost on U.S. roads each year.
Every year, emergency medical services (EMS) respond to more than 6 million motor vehicle crashes in the U.S., with 1 million injuries reported. These crashes result in more than 40,000 deaths. Federal data consistently show that more than 40% of those who ultimately died were alive when first responders arrived.
That statistic set the tone for our webinar: combining NG9-1-1 and AACN could help emergency responders act faster and more effectively when every second counts.
What's Actually New
Cars have been able to signal a crash for years. What's changed is how that signal reaches 9-1-1. Brian Davenport, Intrado's Chief Strategy Officer, traced this back more than 20 years, to when public safety first imagined a system that could pull crash data straight from a vehicle instead of relying on a caller to describe it.
"I can't think of anything that has the potential to be so meaningful to save lives as this could."
- Brian Davenport, Chief Strategy Officer, Intrado
Why the Network Matters
John Snapp, VP of Technology, explained why a NG9-1-1 dedicated network (ESInet), changes things. AACN data can already reach some 9-1-1 centers today, but usually through one-off setups built vendor by vendor. NextGen makes it standard: one path any provider can build to, running on a highly reliable network, instead of a patchwork that took decades to build.
The payoff is faster, better-informed dispatch. Today, a telecommunicator who doesn't know how many people are hurt often has to guess, might send too little a response, or send everything just in case. With crash data arriving instantly, a 9-1-1 center can send the right help right away, including a helicopter if needed, without waiting for someone to reach the scene first.
Where Regulation Stands
Lauren Kravetz, VP of Government Affairs and a 24-year FCC veteran, gave the regulatory picture. The FCC laid out its nationwide framework for the NG9-1-1 transition in 2024. Separately, Intrado has already moved about 3,500 of the country's roughly 5,000 9-1-1 centers to IP-based service, ahead of the FCC's own request process, which so far covers about 2,600 centers.
Her closing point was really a warning: some of the FCC's toughest 9-1-1 rules only came after a disaster forced the issue. She hopes that this technology gets adopted on its own, before that happens again.
"We should all be looking to move forward very deliberately to ensure these technologies are deployed to save lives before regulators feel the need to use a blunt instrument where something finer would be better."
- Lauren Kravetz, VP of Government Affairs, Intrado
The Bottom Line
Getting first responders to a crash in under seven minutes could prevent an estimated 2,100+ deaths a year. NG9-1-1 and AACN don't need each other to work, but together, they shrink the time between a crash and the right help showing up, right when it matters most.
Watch the recorded webinar as Intrado's industry experts explore key findings from the 2026 State of the 9-1-1 Industry Report, discuss the current state of NG9-1-1 adoption, and how AACN is helping deliver faster, more effective emergency response.