Research Paper on:
Black Boxes in Automobiles/A Proposal

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
US highway system where countless thousands of US citizens battle for position in the headlong race to arrive at their destinations. According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,  there were 41,480 Americans killed on the nations highways in 1998 (Anonymous 9). In 1995, drivers under the age of 20 were responsible for 31% of traffic fatalities (  Khol 4). Teens, under the age of 17, by themselves caused 9% of all fatal crashes, 18% were caused by drivers "carelessly  pulling into traffic at intersections," 13% were caused by drivers turning left into oncoming traffic, and 12% were due to rear-end collisions ( Khol 4). Although society can respond to  the fatalities caused by young drivers by raising the driving age, this action will not stop accidents caused by the drivers inexperience or inattention. The best recourse to diminish this  appalling loss of life is to gain information from these accidents that can be used to create safer vehicles. While this goal is generally acknowledged and accidents are routinely  investigated, analysis of automotive crashes remains imprecise. Investigators have to rely on measures of skid marks and dents to estimate such factors as speed and the force of impact. While  airbag sensors record a vehicles motion just prior to a crash, thus far, this information has not been collected and thoroughly analyzed (McGinn; Rogers 14). The "black boxes," which record  in-flight data on airplanes from onboard sensors, are well known to the general public (Anonymous PG). By utilizing this technology on cars and trucks, valuable information could be gained that  could aid immeasurably in creating safer vehicles. Proposed Study Diversified Auto Technology (DAT) of Santa Barbara, California has developed a vehicular "black box" intended for use by commercial trucking (Anonymous