A three year study the European Union's transport sector has recommended the mandatory installation of black box recorders in all cars. The boxes will record twenty types of data, including speed and use of brakes and indicators. They will be used by police and insurance companies to establish who was a fault in an accident.
The boxes are as small as a pack of cards, cost around £500, and are connected to sensors that monitor the car's movements. So that they can record accidents they are triggered by sudden changes in speed or the airbag opening. However, to attempt to dispel privacy issues, only the data recorded for the thirty seconds before and the fifteen seconds after a crash will be kept.
These boxes are already installed in many emergency vehicles in Britain, and in America they can be found in more than two-thirds of new vehicles. However, both the government and motoring groups are concerned about their use in the European Union. The government is concerned about privacy and legal issues, and motoring groups are concerned about the practicality of making black boxes mandatory.
Full story - Times Online 01/11/09
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