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‘Black boxes’ for vehicles in UAE
DUBAI - From the time Mark Petrou turns the key in his car’s ignition, he knows he is being watched.
A black box, attached to the windscreen, monitors his speed and quality of driving. A tiny camera watches the road.
“The awareness that I’m being monitored means that I’m conscious of how I am driving,” he said.
On Wednesday, Petrou’s company Siris announced the launch of the black box device in the UAE market.
Petrou, operations director for the tech company, hopes that one day everyone in the country will have one of the devices attached to their cars.
“We hope that we will greatly reduce the number of accidents on the UAE roads,” he said.
Car crashes account for around 15 per cent of deaths in the UAE every year. In Dubai alone, a total of 3,567 road accidents occurred in 2009, police records show.
The way the device works is by using GPS to track the speed and location of the vehicle, and a gravity device measures whether or not the vehicle swerves across the road.
A video camera and a microphone can record in detail the critical moments before a car crash.
“Should the vehicle be in a very serious accident, and the police want to know what happened, they can retrieve the card from the black box and everything will be there,” said Petrou.
The device was officially approved this week, and went on sale on Wednesday for Dh2,500.
So far there have already been 50 orders and Petrou said that there was particular interest from trucking firms who want to track the exact location of their vehicles.
It is also possible that the device could be made mandatory for labour buses, which have come under scrutiny recently for poor driving.
The black boxes store data for four days. Police can stop a driver at anytime, ask to see the SD card in the black box, and use a common laptop to ascertain whether the individual has been speeding or driving dangerously over that period.
Partly because of the possibility for penalty for common motorists, the device has been more popular so far among business customers.
Despite that, Petrou said that one day, insurance premiums could be driven down by the inclusion of a black box.
In the meantime, it can mean the difference between freedom and a life behind bars for drivers involved in disputes. “For everyday motorists, it is peace of mind that, should there be an incident, you can prove that you weren’t to blame,” he said.
martin@khaleejtimes.com
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