'Black Box' Data Debate Sparks Liability Fears

ARLINGTON, Va. — As Department of Transportation officials publicly announced their proposal for reforming hours of service, the National Transportation Safety Board was meeting in a Washington suburb to address the vexing question of how to treat accident-investigation data.

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Although NTSB is trying to solve the data problem for all modes of transportation, the issue of event-data recorders on trucks was a hot topic at the two-day conference last week. While DOT wants regional and long-haul trucks to carry technology that automatically records the time a trucker is driving, many such devices also capture data that could be used to reconstruct accidents involving the vehicle.

NTSB continues to push trucking to collect just such data, with the goal of reducing the potential for future incidents by analyzing today’s crashes.

In remarks opening the Symposium on Transportation and Law on April 25, NTSB chairman James E.Hall reiterated the board’s position in favor of “black boxes” for trucks.

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