‘Black boxes’ to be installed on 500,000 public transport vehicles to help reduce accidents

ISTANBUL

The government is working on a new regulation that will make it compulsory for 500,000 public transport vehicles to install “black boxes” by the end of 2019, in a move to help to reduce deadly accidents, Sabah newspaper reported on Feb. 6. 

Black boxes will help authorities to determine the causes of accidents. They have already been installed on 520 public buses operated by the Istanbul Electric Tramway and Tunnel Company (İETT).

According to the new regulation, 500,000 public transport vehicles must have the black boxes installed by the end of 2019. This has followed a decision by the Interior Ministry back in 2017, which made it obligatory for all public transport vehicles, including minibuses, buses and shuttles to have cameras on vehicles by the end of next year.

The ministry introduced the regulation regarding on-vehicle cameras after the Traffic Safety and Passenger Transportation Workshop held in September 2017.

Black boxes will help authorities analyze various data, including speed, fuel level, location, malfunctioning parts, vehicle’s route, distance covered, engine and brakes.

On-vehicle cameras will be integrated into the black boxes.

Data retrieved from cameras and black boxes will be sent to the Security General Directorate where the information will be analyzed by authorities to establish if the accident has occurred due to road conditions, technical failure or driver failure.

Accidents might fall 50 percent 

“Those two systems—cameras and black boxes—will help authorities prevent accidents by identifying their causes,” said Turkish Bus Federation (TOF) head Mustafa Yıldırım.

“When vehicles are also required to have driver warning systems, then accidents might decline by 50 percent,” Yıldırım said, adding that the federation would hold talks next week with the Interior Ministry on the use of the driver warning systems.

Three people were killed and five others were wounded when a public bus crashed into a bus stop in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district on the Asian side on Feb. 1.

The bus lost control, collided with another bus and then hit the bus stop.

An official from the Istanbul Private Public Bus Company denied that the accident was due to high speed, blaming a technical failure for the deadly accident.

Following the accident in Üsküdar, Istanbul Mayor Mevlüt Uysal said they have been working to resolve the problems related to private public buses “once and for all.”