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Safety authorities in the US are calling for comments on proposals to dictate the range of information that would be made available to crash investigators from on-board data-recorders.
At a time when Californian legislators have sought to curb the use being made of on-board telematic devices by vehicle rental companies, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing to set down the data that should be available from the increasing number of accident data recorders fitted to new vehicles.
Current estimates put the number of data-recorders already fitted in cars, light vans and utility pick-ups at around 30 million in the USA alone. This figure will rise with the increasing use of these devices in most new vehicles and it is likely that the use to which the information is put will spread. Information from a data-recorder designed to assess the deployment of an air-bag was given in evidence for the first time at a court in Montreal, Canada to prove the speed of a vehicle immediately before the point of impact. On the other hand, attempts by car-rental companies in California to use on-board telematic devices to prove the unauthorised use of rental vehicles has resulted in proposed legislation in that state banning the practice.
The NHTSA proposals which, if accepted, will come into force in September 2008, will give crash investigators access to information on a range of data including direction of travel, speed, acceleration, yaw and pitch in the few seconds prior to and following the collision. There is no proposal to require vehicle manufacturers to fit a data-recorder.
"EDRs (Event Data Recorders) are in most new vehicles and are already providing valuable safety information for our crash investigators and researchers," said NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge. "We hope that eventually this crash information will be available in real time to emergency medical systems and physicians to improve trauma care after a crash."
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