New technologies used in transportation system have great effects on collecting precise crash data and recognition of their main causes and finally increasing safety. Similar to EDR technology found in airplanes, we can record the most important time dependent crash data such as longitudinal and lateral acceleration , vehicle rotation, ignition, lights status, gauges, braking conditions, timing of airbag operation and activation, and also seat belt status. EDRs have the potential to make a significant contribution to highway safety. For example, EDR data showed that in several cases vehicles Cobalt’s ignition switch turned the engine off while The car was still moving, causing the car to lose power steering and crash. In-depth crash investigations, however, produce more precise measures of crash and injury severity as Change in velocity (delta-V) for crash severity and Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) scores for injury severity. This article attempts to evaluate the operation process, advantages and disadvantages of crash data recording systems and also the process of accessing the recorded data. An effective step has been taken to build a reference crash database, especially in places where observing and reviewing the accident scene and finding out the causes of it happening is very hard. In addition, data that have been recorded and collected with this system would be useful for route design and traffic analysis too.

Full text: IJEIR-1346_final.pdf