Vehicle Safety Agency Looks For Opinions On Data Recorders
Trucking interests favor voluntary approach.
OLIVER B. PATTON
WASHINGTON EDITOR
Everyone agrees onboard devices that record information about crashes can be used to make cars and trucks safer. Not so simple is how to make that happen. Concerns about the accuracy and balance of the data, access to the information and privacy complicate the issue.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — the agency of the federal Department of Transportation that regulates equipment — has been studying the issue for years. So far it has refrained from requiring that these devices be installed on cars and trucks because the industry has been using them voluntarily. But it continues to research that question and other tough decisions concerning the devices.
Typically, these devices record certain vehicle conditions, such as acceleration and deceleration, braking, steering, airbag deployment and the status of critical systems. In the event of an accident, this information can be analyzed to give engineers a better understanding of what happened and how to make the vehicle safer.
In response to NHTSA's call for comments last fall, trucking interests said they support the voluntary approach, but would like to see federal performance standards for the devices themselves.
Three trucking trade groups (American Trucking Assns., the Truckload Carriers Assn. and the Distribution and LTL Carriers Assn.) said that "event data recorders," as the devices are called, are only as useful as the accuracy of their information. What's required, they said, is a reliability and accuracy standard.
It also is important that data from all the vehicles involved in an accident be included in the analysis — data only from a truck could lead to false conclusions, the trucking groups said. Another concern is how the data would be analyzed. The government does not have enough resources to analyze data from the more than 900 fatal crashes each week, they said. In any event, they added, the analysts must be appropriately trained.
Also at issue is who owns the data. The trucking groups said the information belongs to the owner of the vehicle, who should have the right to say yes or no to access. The data contained in airplane black boxes is owned by the Federal Aviation Administration and transferred to the National Transportation Safety Board in the event of an accident. This is not the case with highway vehicles.
NHTSA is not proposing any rules at this point, and gives no indication that it plans to do so any time soon.
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