From United Press International
WEST PALM BEACH, FL — A Palm Beach County, Fla., woman injured in a traffic accident is planning to use information from a automotive black box in her effort to seek damages.
The case is part of a nationwide trend to use the event data recorders in traffic cases, the Palm Beach Post reported Tuesday.
Deborah Coppola’s attorney, Ed Ricci, sued Ford Motor Co. and Autoliv, the maker of the black boxes, in April for access to the data.
Autoliv has agreed to release the data, but said Ricci must hire his own experts to evaluate it.
Coppola sustained pelvic fractures in an accident Nov. 28. She believes the data will show she stopped at a stop sign and the other driver was speeding.
She also hopes to find out why the air bag did not deploy.
The devices are getting more attention lately. California last week became the first state to regulate black boxes in cars preventing anyone from using the information without the car owner’s permission or a court order.
Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began establishing standards to regulate black boxes.
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