NTSB Recommends Black Boxes for Passenger Vehicles
he National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday the government should require data recorders or "black boxes" in all passenger vehicles that record speed, seat belt use, braking and other factors, news services reported.
However, two months ago, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it saw no need to require black boxes in vehicles because automakers were adding them voluntarily to more models.
NTSB, which has the power only to investigate and recommend, did not mention commercial vehicles in its recommendation.
NHTSA has proposed that by September 2008, recorders to collect up to 42 data elements, including the time it takes for air bags to deploy.
NTSB’s recommendation arose from an investigation into a crash last year 2003 in Santa Monica, Calif., the Associated Press reported.
afety investigators were unable to interview the elderly driver who stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake, plowing into the open-air market, killing 10 and injuring more than 60, AP said.
The board concluded investigators could have gained a better scientific understanding of the driver's behavior had his vehicle been outfitted with an event data recorder.
Proponents of black boxes in passenger vehicles say they could provide investigators with an exhaustive database that could highlight flaws in auto and road designs, AP said.
Critics worry about who would get access to that information. Privacy advocate David Sobel said millions of drivers on the road now have no idea that their vehicles are collecting data, AP said.
AAA, the nation's largest auto club, would support requiring black boxes only if protections were in place to ensure the data are used just for safety research and can't be traced to specific drivers, AP said.
