The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Proposes Broader Use of Event Data Recorders to Help Improve Vehicle Safety
Due to the size and weight of the vehicles involved, accidents involving semi tractor-trailers can be particularly devastating to those involved, often leading to fatalities or serious permanent injury. In the aftermath of such an accident, various data points such as speed, throttle, tire pressure, and braking can be vital in the investigation of how and why the crash occurred.
Most semi-trucks on the road today are equipped with Event Data Recorders, or EDR "Black Boxes", and the use of these devices is becoming even more commonplace. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the vast majority of new vehicles, including passenger cars, are equipped with the technology, and the NHTSA has proposed a rule that they become mandatory on all new cars manufactured on or after September 1, 2014. The requirement published on www.nhtsa.gov aims to capture valuable safety-related information in seconds before and during a motor vehicle crash.
Accessing the data stored on these devices is a critical component of accident reconstruction, and can often fill-in-the-blanks so as to provide answers to the victims and to establish liability and causation in litigation. The motor vehicle accident attorneys at Rourke and Blumenthal LLC work with a number of accident reconstructionists and trucking industry experts who are well-versed in obtaining and analyzing EDR black box data. If you or a family member have been harmed in a motor vehicle accident or trucking accident, please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.