Car Accidents and Black Boxes

Today many modern cars have onboard computers that record data about speed, air bag deployment or failures, braking and other mechanical functions. This information can sometimes help to determine the cause of a car accident.

Police can establish for example how fast a car was travelling at the time of impact from recording devices onboard the vehicle. These recording devices are much like the black boxes everybody has heard about in aeroplanes.

Data recording devices, or black boxes, in both your car and in the car at fault, are one of the many tools experts can use as evidence to help determine fault for a car accident.

Nearly every car being manufactured right now comes with a little added bonus by way of a tiny recording device nestled under the centre console. And if you’re looking to keep your driving habits under wraps, you might want to start worrying.

As many as 96 percent of the cars mass-produced in 2013 include event data recorders, or EDRs, yet the existence of these small “black box” surveillance devices are rarely known among the automobile drivers whose data is being collected with every quick turn of the steering wheel.

This following story from the USA indicates how these will affect court cases in the future, and this includes Australia:

Roadwork's Not To Blame for Car Accidents

The continuing saga of ongoing road works around the country has been a frustrating exercise for most motorists including those who have ever been on a visit or holiday to the area. With roadwork's reducing speed limits and increasing congestion, motorists are becoming increasingly frustrated at the holdups and congestion they cause, but are road works the cause of car accidents, or are there other factors that contribute to these accidents. 

Some police officers have reported an increasing number of car accidents related to the ongoing construction and roadwork's on our major highways. However, the increase in car accidents hasn’t been caused by the roadwork's. The increase in car accidents is due to drivers refusing to put down their mobile phone while they’re driving.

Recent surveys indicate that one in three car accidents that happen at roadwork's can be traced back to talking or texting while driving.