The simple answer is yes. Cars should have black boxes, but it should only be used for serious accidents.

Yes

Extreme invasion of privacy. It strikes me as being totally over the top, although I feeely admit I've never experienced a situation where one would have been useful. So maybe I'd like the idea better if I was a worse driver than I already am. How would it work for say rental cars, taxis, company cars? Who would have the right to the information about a trip that you made when its not actually yout vehicle?

And the "logical" next step is that it's all monitored by big brother and as soon as any law is broken it's game over.

Of course, that's the worst case scenario, but certainly having more monitoring capability out there on the roads may help deter the worst muppets. Such things as red light cameras could be installed at a lot more intersections (outside my work for example). Commercial vehicles are a good place to install cameras as shown by the footage The Press has provided. They are the ones on the road all the time. Police can only be in a few places at any given time.

Oddly enough while returning home froma motorsport event on Sunday with my in car camera still mounted I had a muppet doing some incredibly stupid driving around me. Pity I didn't think to hit record at the time. *555'd them anyway.

It should be just for the police to access to help determine what happend prior to an accident. As someone who has lost a beloved family member in a car accident I believe it would be useful.

Compulsory? NO

Optional? YES

They could come with a built-in card reader. At the start of your trip you insert your credit card, and it automatically charges speeding fines as you drive. No more waiting or uncertainty!

I don't think they should be introduced, but I believe it's inevitable as the technology becomes cheaper, insurance companies look to lower their costs and legislation tightens. Look at the number of CCTV cameras in the UK.

Would it make any difference in the cases captured in the Chch Waste trucks' videos? No, unless you were able to cross reference all the cars present at the times the incidents occurred, to show who was passing who and where those cars were in relation to each other to an accuracy of 1 metre. But a lack of overall usefulness won't stop the legislators, as in the case of Wellington City Council's installation of CCTV to stop taxis parking on a bus stop, when it could be used to make Courtenay Place a safer place for the public.

easy answer - yes.

of course they should be mandatory. it would eliminate all the 'he said/she said' arguments and provide evidence to not only prosecute, but also discharge convictions based on factual information.

I think it's an excellent idea. Should be compulsory in all vehicles. Better still, would be if it could automatically issue fines when it detects the driver commiting a traffic offence.