Privacy protection and ITS-based safety measures. A study of section control, intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) and event data recorders (EDR)

New ITS-based road safety measures that control and enforce traffic rules can greatly improve road safety. A downside is their potential threat to personal privacy. Section control – the registration of average speeds over road sections – and event data recorders (EDR) have direct implications for privacy, as do intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) systems which store data. Norwegian and Swedish authorities differ in the way they have dealt with the privacy implications of section control. In Norway the system has been implemented on trial sections whereas in Sweden section control will not be implemented. However, both countries have installed ISA in the company cars of the national road administrations. EDR has attracted relatively little attention in either country. Car owners are by and large positive towards both section control and ISA, and acceptability increases if speed is viewed as a risk factor. Car owners are more sceptical about EDRs (“black boxes”), which are becoming more and more common in modern cars. The amount of data stored in EDR units is also increasing. Car owners should be kept better informed about this and be given access rights to any data registered.