In the air modes and marine modes of transportation, many operators are required to have on-board voice recordings. There's not yet a requirement for video recordings, but some operators are putting them in. That's not a requirement in the rail mode. There's no requirement for either voice or video, and the TSB has made recommendations in the past that both types of recordings be available.
From our perspective, it's absolutely essential to finding out what happened and why it happened. In some cases, we don't have a live crew. An example would be the VIA 92 derailment in Burlington, where the three crew members were all tragically killed. We did our best to identify why it happened, but without a crew and voice or video recordings to find out what was going on, it was very difficult for us.
So there's that aspect. It certainly has proven to be extremely beneficial for accident investigation. But beyond that, Madam Chair, we also believe that the use of voice and video recordings in all modes of transportation, and particularly in this case in rail, can go a long way to helping railway companies identify hazards in their operations and take steps before an accident occurs, provided it is used in the context of a proactive non-punitive safety management system.