Discoveries: The Inner-Workings of the DRACO and SAMOVAR technology, 1990s.
The device pictured was designed to work like an aircraft's black box; registering the speed of the car as well as acceleration, whether the brakes were applied and whether the lights were on at the time of a crash.
DRACO – (Driving Accident Coordinating Observer), and SAMOVAR (Safety Assessment Monitoring On-Vehicle with Automatic Recording) were research projects funded by DRIVE (Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety), beginning in 1989. Bill Fincham was lead of this project with members including Phil Willson and Sue Taylor, all three from Queen Mary’s Engineering Department. They worked with seven other companies, research institutions and universities on these two projects.
One clear advantage to information such as this would be to ascertain liability in accidents. However, there is also the preventative possibilities – a driver may be less reckless knowing that his actions are being recorded.