Linea Directa 200 LEFT COL CAR INSURANCE

Date Published: 31/01/2022

ARCHIVED - Black boxes compulsory in new cars in Spain

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

The devices will record data before and after road traffic accidents

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Black boxes compulsory in new cars in Spain

Newly manufactured cars in Spain and the rest of the European Union from this year will have to be fitted with an EDR device, more commonly known as a black box, that will register vital details in the event of an accident. Several driving assistants will become mandatory as of 2022, and the European Parliament predicts that these systems could help prevent more than 25,000 deaths and 140,000 injuries from road traffic accidents over the next 18 years.

The black boxes or EDR (Event Data Recorder) will be installed under the driver’s seat and will use 15 parameters to record everything that happens before and after the unfortunate event of an accident. To ensure data protection, the device will not record audio or video of the driver or passengers.

Speed assistant device made mandatory in new cars in Spain

So what does it record?

Roughly the size of a mobile phone, the black box is usually connected to the control unit of the vehicle’s airbag. The data saving mechanism will be activated during the 15 seconds immediately before a traffic accident and the five seconds after.

The parameters that will be recorded are vehicle speed, braking, engine revolutions, front and side impact force, steering movements, accelerator position, operation of safety systems such as airbags, belts or certain assistants, the time of the accident, the route, whether it was day or night.

The collected data can then be accessed by removing the black box and connecting it to a computer.

Accessing the information contained in these EDRs is complicated and specific knowledge is required to be able to access the data, which is encrypted.

How will the information be used?

For the time being, all data collected will be used anonymously, purely for statistical purposes with the intention of improving road safety. Therefore, the information gathered cannot be used to establish blame in the event of an accident, although insurance companies and the police will be entitled to access the data.

The overall hope is that black boxes will help to clarify the conditions in which a traffic accident has occurred.

Image: Archive

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