In the early days of the U.S. ITS program, the essential question regarding the legal issues identified as having potential impacts on the development and deployment of ITS was "Will these issues be 'showstoppers' (Tim questions the word "showstoppers") for ITS?" In other words, would these concerns significantly deter public agencies and private companies from aggressively pursuing ITS deployment. Most analysts agreed that the answer then was "no". Today, while these issues certainly have not deterred ITS deployment, many still present real challenges to both the public and private sector. Indeed, with the proliferation of ITS and the attendant increase in public awareness, the theoretical discussions of ITS legal issues are becoming more tangible. Issues like liability and privacy are no longer hypotheticals. And advances in other sectors (telecommunications in particular) call for the ITS community to pay careful attention to legal developments in these areas. For the covering abstract see ITRD E209471.
Samenvatting