In 2006, Transport Policy Council, an advisory group of Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (JMLIT) consisting of vehicle safety experts, submitted a report on future vehicle safety measures to the Minister of JMLIT.

The projections in this report indicate that the number of traffic fatalities and injuries will dramatically decrease until 2010. This report also sets “zero fatalities” as the ultimate target. To achieve this aim, however, it is necessary to identify and promote new active safety measures. Therefore, near-miss situation data as well as accident data, which would be recorded by an onboard VDR, should be analyzed and evaluated.

In October 2006, JMLIT organized a panel of experts to discuss and develop technical guidelines for such VDRs.