BLACK box data recorders could soon be road-tested by one of the region's police forces.

County Durham Police are considering putting black boxes in 12 of its panda cars in Darlington as part of a national experiment.

The aim is to improve public and officer safety by cutting the number of police car accidents.

The force's fleet manager, Roy Moor, said: "The chief constable has publicly said one accident involving a police vehicle is one too many, and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure officer and public safety.

"For the past 12 months, a working group has been looking at ways of cutting police accidents and, on the evidence of international research we believe black boxes might produce reductions of between 20 and 30 per cent."

The Darlington police division volunteered to lead the trial, which will show whether black boxes, costing between £300 and £600 each, should be put in police cars across the country.

They cannot be switched off, disconnected or tampered with and collect data before and after an accident.

The box will record the vehicle's speed, direction, whether it skidded, and whether brakes and lights were used.

Information from the box can be downloaded easily on to a computer and can be used as evidence in court if necessary.

Mr Moor said: "The boxes will not help drivers avoid any accidents. But we believe drivers will exercise more caution knowing their movement at the time of an accident is recorded."

As well as helping to decide why an accident happened, it is hoped information from the black boxes will help drivers learn how to best handle their cars to avoid similar mistakes.

They have been used in police cars in London and Greater Manchester for a number of months but other forces across the country will be looking at the results of the Darlington trial before implementing the system.

The proposal for fitting the boxes in some Darlington panda cars will be discussed at a meeting of the Durham force's policy advisory group in August