THE widespread use of black box data recorders by the police could lead to acceptance of the technology in private and company cars, ending the suspicion of them as in-vehicle spies. Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police announced it would be fitting black boxes to its 500 immediate and armed response vehicles in an effort to tackle the problem of the rising number of collisions involving its officers.

The black boxes are expected to be fitted from spring 2000. Insp Mark Goldby, from the policy development unit at the Met and a delegate at the Driving Standards Agency's 'Safe Driving for Life' conference, said a number of other police forces were now asking for information on black boxes. 'There is a definite potential to extend the use of black boxes to forces. Once the public acknowledges that we are doing something about our accident record, the technology will gain greater credibility and we will start to see a wider acceptance,' said Goldby.