TRL calls for EU crash data law update

TRL is calling for an update to UK and EU automotive legislation to allow police, insurers and road safety researchers access to event data recorder (EDR) information. EDR is the equivalent of a black box that records a range of data from safety systems fitted to the vehicle in the seconds before, during and after a collision. The data helps provide information on the actions taken before a crash – which TRL says will be vital in understanding what an autonomous vehicle or its safety driver were doing j
August 29, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

491 TRL is calling for an update to UK and EU automotive legislation to allow police, insurers and road safety researchers access to event data recorder (EDR) information.

EDR is the equivalent of a black box that records a range of data from safety systems fitted to the vehicle in the seconds before, during and after a collision. The data helps provide information on the actions taken before a crash – which TRL says will be vital in understanding what an autonomous vehicle or its safety driver were doing just before an accident, for example.

Dean Beaumont, accident reconstruction consultant for TRL’s expert witness team, says EDR provides a more accurate investigation into road collisions, specifically regarding “causation and liability”.

“In the UK and EU, manufacturers are slowly allowing access to this data, but this only applies to a very small number of vehicles,” he continues. “Sharing of EDR data should not be placed above lives in serious and fatal collisions.”

Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

TRL

Related Content

  • Car data is personal data, says report
    June 7, 2017
    Early results from a new study commissioned by FIA Region I indicates that most car data can be linked to a user and therefore should be treated as personal data.
    Read More
  • RAC survey shows big safety gains with average speed enforcement
    January 11, 2017
    Cheaper and easier communications are providing authorities with new options for influencing driver behaviour. Colin Sowman reports. It’s official; Average speed cameras (ASCs) cut the number of fatal or serious injury crashes by more than a third.
    Read More
  • IAM Roadsmart: drivers must be more alert to protect pedestrians
    May 25, 2018
    UK charity IAM RoadSmart is urging drivers to be more alert as pedestrians now make up a quarter of all road deaths on the country’s roads. IAM refers to figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2016 – the most recent figures available - which revealed 448 pedestrians were killed. This is an increase of 10% over 2015 - the DfT says drivers failed to look in 42% of crashes while pedestrians did not look in 54% incidents. In addition, a fifth of drivers failed to judge the other perso
    Read More
  • Autonomous vehicles, smart cities: moving beyond the hype
    February 21, 2018
    There is a lot of excited chatter about autonomous vehicles – but 2getthere’s Robbert Lohmann suggests we might need to take a step back and look realistically at what is achievable. You might be surprised that the chief commercial officer of a company delivering autonomous vehicles would begin an article with the suggestion that we need to get past the hype. And yet I do; because we have to, and urgently so. The hype prevents the development of autonomous vehicles that address actual transit needs. And
    Read More

Highlighted Content