Motorists in the UK Say that They Do Not Want Their Cars Spying on Them

LONDON -- July 21, 2014: The overwhelming majority of motorists want to shelve EU plans to introduce so-called ‘spy boxes’ in cars according to a new poll by Motorpoint.

A web-based survey by the UK’s leading car supermarket found 71.5% per cent of drivers opposed regulations that will see ‘black boxes’ built into all new cars from October 2015 to monitor individual’s speed as well as driving habit. Just under 2,000 people participated in the poll on the company’s website – Motor Point.

The “telematics” technology would keep track Big Brother style of how fast their customers drive, how hard they brake and how many journeys a year they take. It is based on the eCall system that is used by a number of car manufacturers to make it easier for the emergency services to track crashed vehicles. Anyone who refuses to have a ‘black box’ fitted retrospectively to an existing vehicle could see a spike in their insurance premiums as a result. Furthermore, motorists won’t be able to switch off the device and testing is expected to form part of the MoT.

Mark Carpenter, Managing Director of Motorpoint, said: “You can’t argue with the benefits of a device being used to make it easier for the emergency services to track a vehicle but the results of our poll are definitive – UK drivers don’t want costly Big Brother style devices attached to their cars which have the potential to track their movements 24/7.”