Research and analysis on the costs and benefits for the mandatory installation of EDRs in road vehicles at first supply to the Australian market: Establishment of a benefits and cost implications framework for use in a regulatory impact assessment.

<p dir="ltr">The Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) was commissioned by the Vehicle Safety Standards division of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and Arts (DITRDCA) to examine the likely benefits and costs of a mandate at first supply of Event Data Recorder (EDR) systems fitted to Category M and Category N vehicles.</p><p dir="ltr">To fulfil this objective, this <i>Report </i>seeks to:</p><p dir="ltr">a) Establish a framework for use in a future regulatory impact assessment and provide inputs for use in the formulation of a <i>Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS).</i></p><p dir="ltr">b) Define the anticipated benefits of a mandate of EDR technology.</p><p dir="ltr">c) Provide financial estimates of benefits and costs associated with EDR fitment insofar as possible.</p><p dir="ltr">To achieve the above, this <i>Report </i>provides a description of EDR technology, current regulations and standards, including those ratified by the United States (US), the United Nations (UN), and the European Union (EU). Provisions concerning EDR data ownership, privacy, and data access and retrieval are also outlined, with reference made to relevant regulations, legislation and court judgements. Doing so provides a basis for not only understanding the nature of EDR regulations themselves but provides a basis for understanding how EDR data can be accessed for use.</p><p dir="ltr">To inform a future regulatory impact assessment of an EDR mandate, the <i>Report </i>also documents the process of EDR data retrieval, inclusive of equipment required and associated equipment costs. As the focus of this <i>Report </i>is on Australia, coverage, or download support, of Australian vehicles by currently commercially available EDR data retrieval systems are examined using crash data and vehicle sales data. Crash data by vehicle type and vehicle age is also presented; this can be used as an input to the calculation of benefit-cost ratios in a future impact assessment analysis should such analysis be conducted.</p><p dir="ltr">A key part of the <i>Report </i>is the identification of use cases for EDR data. This provides the basis of establishing a benefits framework for application in a future impact assessment of a mandate of EDR technology into vehicles at first supply to the Australian market.</p>