State joins with IBM for new car safety initiative

The Government has linked up with IBM and US safety systems group SIS to fit tens of thousands of cars with "black boxes" that will flash the location and the severity of a crash to emergency services. The initiative is due to be announced today.

The data will also go to accident investigation bodies for longer term analysis.

In the European Union - the first region to get the technology - the data will be collected and analysed at a new European Safety Data Vault, which the Republic has opted to house for the entire EU.

Within five years, according to the partners, millions of cars in Europe and North America should be fitted with the devices to improve road safety, speed up emergency services' responses, reduce insurance costs and, not least, slash the annual €160 billion economic impact of road accidents across the EU.

Brussels has set a target of halving the region's 40,000 road deaths a year by 2010, using advanced information technology, known as telematics, as a key component of the strategy.

The Government's concern about the economic impact of the Republic's road traffic toll - some €2 billion a year - has provided the catalyst for the venture, although IBM and SIS intend to roll out the technology in North America shortly.

British insurance group Norwich Union has begun trials of a similar system to provide data on mileage and other factors for a "pay as you drive" insurance plan.

That technology is also IBM's in partnership with the UK communications group Orange.

Neither IBM nor SIS would disclose yesterday the size of their investment in the project.

However, they said that the current cost of $300 (€261) to install a "black box" unit was expected to be at least halved as volumes built up over the next two to three years.

They expect to earn their revenue from vehicle makers, insurance groups, public transportation groups and large fleet operators.

Minorplanet, the vehicle management information group which has its headquarters in Britain and operates 200,000 vehicles across Europe, is to be the first large-scale customer for the system.

The black boxes are to be manufactured by a third partner, Celestica.