A novel system for gathering, analyzing and storing information for the purpose of motor vehicle accident investigations. An on board, secure vehicle incident capture system, activated when the ignition switch is energized, having a video camera for generating video signals of an incident external to the vehicle, which is digitized into a synchronized data file, carrying a unique vehicle identification and a time indicator with other input data occurring on or about the vehicle such as motion sensors, brake application sensors, and the like. The file is encrypted and stored on a large capacity, code accessible device. Once written, the encrypted file can not be altered or corrupted, decrypted without the encryption key, or accessed without the access authorization code. The data file can be down loaded to be used as evidence.