As of: March 15, 2024, 10:12 a.m
By: Cefina Gomez
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Press
Split
In the future, all new cars in Germany will have to be equipped with a special box.
This “black box” could significantly change accident investigation.
Munich - Standard in air traffic for a long time, now also on the roads: From July 7, 2024, all newly registered cars, trucks and buses in the EU must be equipped with a recording device similar to a “black box”.
This box, known as an Event Data Recorder (EDR), records a short period of time before and after the event when an accident occurs.
Many vehicles already have an EDR.
The box was therefore able to provide helpful information about how an accident occurred.
Drivers should not only be aware of the latest traffic regulations in Germany.
Italy has now reintroduced a new traffic rule that can be quite expensive if not followed.
Car accidents and data protection: How far does the police have access to the data from the box?
Even if the box stores some information, the data protection gap does not appear to be particularly large.
According to EU regulations, the black box is not allowed to store the last four digits of the vehicle identification number or information about the vehicle owner.
The use of the data is only permitted upon a court order or by the public prosecutor's office, as data protection control lies with the driver or owner of the vehicle.
In addition, only an accident expert is allowed to view the data from the EDR.
According to an official statement from the
ADAC
, the black box alone is not enough to completely reconstruct the course of an accident.
The traces at the scene of the accident and the damage to the vehicles of all those involved in the accident should always be included in the investigation.
“The data can support the traditional reconstruction of an accident, but cannot replace it,” explains the
ADAC
.
In order to further reduce the risk of accidents, it is important that drivers also know the traffic rules.
If the road is narrow, very few people know what the right-of-way regulations look like.
From summer onwards, new cars will have the “black box requirement”.
© Imago / Panthermedia
How exactly does the Event Data Recorder work and what is recorded in car accidents?
According to the ADAC,
the Event Data Recorder (EDR) records
all relevant data in the event of a crash, starting five seconds before the collision and ending 0.3 seconds after.
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“The EDR is usually installed in the airbag control unit, as all relevant information from acceleration sensors comes together here,” says the
ADAC
.
GPS data is used to collect information such as speed, steering angle, engine speed and airbag deployment.
Although the data is recorded continuously, it is only saved if an accident occurs.
Special tools then make it possible to read the data either via the OBD interface or directly on the airbag control unit.
Just recently, a young man drove into a 25-year-old's car almost without braking, seriously injuring several people.
(cg)