Readers of this New Jersey personal injury law blog have read or watched news reports about airplane crashes. During one of these tragic events, authorities usually search for the plane's "black box," the nearly-indestructible device that records information about the airplane's functioning just before the accident and helps investigators determine what happened.

Few automobile owners may realize that their vehicles have a similar device. But most cars and trucks manufactured in the last 10 years have a "black box" device called an event data recorder, or EDR. The EDR records information such as the car's speed and whether people inside were wearing their seat belts prior to the accident.

Police officers say the EDR is a very useful tool when they have to reconstruct a car accident. For example, after then-New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was badly injured in a car accident in April 2007, the vehicle's EDR indicated that it was travelling at 91 miles per hour just prior to the collision.

As we said before, it may surprise automobile owners to learn that a device is recording information about their vehicles. That could be because it is not common knowledge yet, and car companies are not required to include that information in the owner's manual.

Privacy advocates worry about a piece of equipment in peoples' cars that can be used by police. But authorities say that concern is overblown. They say that the EDR only records what is happening to the vehicle just before and during an accident.

Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette, "Your car's black box can reveal all," Bill Fortier, Jan. 31, 2012