Black Box Legislation Draws Opposition

Kentucky Senator Julian Carroll has introduced legislation that would protect information on event data recorders (“black boxes”), which are found in some vehicles.

Senate Bill 34 states that any retrieved data from the device shall not be revealed to anyone without the consent of the owner. The proposed legislation would even deny insurance companies access to the recorded information unless permission was granted by the vehicle owner. The current Kentucky law states that insurers and car manufacturers have access to EDR material after an accident without notifying the vehicle owner.

Some see this action as a way of withholding information that may be valuable to insurers and policyholders when investigating an accident.

“What we are getting from the EDR is really just another sort of automated element of what we have always had as part of an investigation,” said John Eager, director of claim services for the Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America. “We have been really consistent in saying that insurers should have access to the EDR information because it is used in the claims and it is an element of physical damage. There are a variety of good things for consumers that would come out of using the information. Blocking that information doesn't seem like it would do anybody and good.”