BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 1942
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Fletcher
VERSION: 2/17/10
Analysis by: Meegen Murray FISCAL: no
Hearing date: June 29, 2010
SUBJECT:
Windshield: video event recorder
DESCRIPTION:
This bill would authorize the placement of video event recorders
in vehicles.
ANALYSIS:
Existing California law prohibits a person from driving any
motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed,
installed, affixed, or applied upon the windshield, the rear
window, or side windows adjacent to the driver. Existing law
makes exceptions for the following:
Rearview mirrors;
Sunvisors that are not mounted on the windshield glass;
Electronic toll communication devices affixed to the
center uppermost portion of the interior of the windshield
within an area that is not greater than 5 inches square
(e.g., FasTrak transponders);
Transparent material applied to the top most portion of
the windshield (i.e., tinting);
Stickers and global positioning systems that are displayed
on the windshield in the 7-inch square in the lower corner
farthest removed from the driver or in the 5-inch square in
the lower corner nearest the driver (e.g., parking and oil
change decals).
Existing law requires vehicle manufacturers to disclose in the
AB 1942 (FLETCHER) Page 2
owner's manual that a vehicle is equipped with one or more
recording devices commonly referred to as "event data
recorders." Existing law defines "recording devices" as those
that:
Record how fast and in which direction the motor vehicle
is traveling;
Record a history or where the motor vehicle travels;
Record steering performance;
Record brake performance, including but not limited to,
whether brakes were applied before an accident;
Record the driver's seat belt status; and
Have the ability to transmit information concerning an
accident in which the motor vehicle has been involved to a
central communications system at the moment the accident
occurs.
Existing law prohibits downloading or retrieving data recorded
on a recording devise by a person other than the registered
owner of the motor vehicle, except under specific conditions.
Existing law prohibits the audio recording of persons without
the expressed consent of all parties involved.
This bill authorizes the placement of video event recorders on
specified areas of a vehicle windshield. Additionally, the bill
defines "video event recorder" to mean a video recorder that
continuously records in a digital loop, recording audio, video,
and G-force levels, but saves video only when triggered by an
unusual motion or crash or when operated by the driver to
monitor driver performance.
COMMENTS:
1) Purpose of the bill . The author introduced this bill to
reduce motor vehicle deaths by allowing the use of video
event recorders that can lead to safe driving habits and
reduced accidents. Video event recorders for vehicles capture
high definition videos, both of the front of the vehicle and
the rear, using a dual camera device and record when an event
occurs, including accidents or aggressive driving behavior.
The videos are stored on internal memory together with other
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information such as G-force values, GPS coordinates, date,
time, and more. Studies of both teens and commercial drivers
found that the use of video event recorders, paired with
behavioral coaching, improved driver safety and reduced
accidents. Video event recorders typically are operated on a
loop and only save recordings in events such as quick stops
or accidents. The records are used to analyze a driver's
actions during the events to coach positive driving behavior.
2) Same as GPS requirements . This bill stipulates that the
event recorder must be placed in a 7-inch square in the lower
corner of the windshield farthest removed from the driver or
in a 5-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield
nearest of the driver and outside of an airbag deployment
zone. These stipulations mirror identically the requirements
currently in place for a portable GPS.
3) Teamsters opposition . The Teamsters believe the bill needs
to be amended to protect the reasonable rights of their
members who drive commercial vehicles. They argue that an
employee driver or driver's representative (union
representative or attorney) must be given unedited copies of
the recordings at no cost and no later than 5 days from the
request. Additionally, they argue that the owner must have
the right to disable the video event recorder and the ability
to turn it off and on and that the data should be restricted
to 30 seconds before and after the triggering event. In
response to this opposition, the author will offer amendments
in committee to give employees the right to disable the
device, specify that the owner of the vehicle owns the data
on the event recorders, and limit a devices record to no more
than 30 seconds before and after a triggering event.
4) Video only . The American Civil Liberties Union, while
agreeing with the Teamsters, also would also like the bill
limited to video recording only, citing that audio recording
generally requires consent of all parties to a conversation.
It would be difficult if not impossible to ensure that all
passengers or parties in a vehicle have given their expressed
consent to be audio recorded at all times. In response, the
author intends to offer an amendment to require posting of a
notice in each vehicle with a video event recorder to inform
passengers that their conversations are being recorded. The
committee may wish instead to amend the bill to clarify that
these recording devices be limited to video only.
Assembly Votes:
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Floor: 69 - 1
Trans: 13 - 1
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 23, 2010)
SUPPORT: California State Sheriffs' Association
DriveCam
MACTEC
OPPOSED: American Civil Liberties Union
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council