Voyage Data Recorders in Marine Accident Investigations

Data recorders are now commonplace in many forms of transport and have made a substantial contribution to the understanding of accident causes and the improvement of safety. Recorded data has enabled accident investigators to reconstruct events to identify precisely what went wrong and to ensure that effective, rather than convenient, recommendations can be made to prevent the same thing happening again. While many transport modes recognize the value of such devices, sections of the marine community have yet to be convinced. This reluctance to accept the value of data recorders and take positive measures to fit them in merchant vessels is, in the opinion of the authors of this paper, a contributory factor to the poor safety record of some ship owners today. This paper not only argues the case for Voyage Data Recorders (VDRs) but gives examples of rudimentary data recordings that have made significant differences to the quality of United Kingdom marine accident investigations. There is no doubt that they have not only led to a much greater understanding of what actually occurred in each case but have done much to, arguably, ensure that the correct lessons are being learned.

• Record URL:
  http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/1999/RP9901.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594

  International Transportation Safety Association

  Apeldoorn,   Netherlands 
• Authors:
  • Lang, J S
  • Beer, N A
• Conference:
  • Transportation Recording: 2000 and Beyond. International Symposium on Transportation Recorders
  • Location: Arlington VA, United States
  • Date: 1999-5-3 to 1999-5-5
• Publication Date: 1999

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Pagination: pp 199-204
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Transportation Recorders. Transportation Recording: 2000 and Beyond, May 3-5, 1999, Arlington, Virginia

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Countermeasures; Crash data; Crash investigation; Crash reconstruction; Maritime safety; Voyage data recorders; Water transportation crashes
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01088104
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 30 2008 12:31PM