The study investigated whether Event Data Recorders (EDRs) could deliver benefits that would justify the costs associated with EU legislative measures and considered: heavy/light goods vehicles, buses/coaches, and passenger cars. A literature review and stakeholder consultation (direct discussions, an online questionnaire and a stakeholder meeting) identified the potential benefits and disbenefits, technical specification, legal issues, fitment and costs relating to EDRs. It was confirmed that most European vehicles are already equipped with EDRs or record EDR-like information, and the resulting data is not personal information unless it is linked to an individual, in which case appropriate controls already exist per Directive 95/46/EC.
EDR data was found to enable benefits in terms of: road safety (better evidence for safety measures), improved vehicle design, accidentology, and legal proceedings. Some of these potentially large benefits could not be monetised. A cost-benefit analysis considered the status quo and an EDR specification with the capability to record collisions with VRUs and data from active safety systems. An enhanced EDR specification was found to be more likely to be cost-beneficial for large vehicles, but bearing in mind the components not monetised, considered likely to be cost-beneficial for all vehicle types