Your car testifies against you now.

[Carmine]

I suppose this has the potential to turn ugly, so I do hope that anyone who posts can refrain from bashing one political side or another. The simple truth is, I imagine "both" popular sides love this sort of stuff. I'm just doing a public service by making you aware, and satisfying curiosity as to where most people draw-the-line with regard to surveillance.

-------------------------------

Last week, a 48-year-old drunk (blood alcohol supposedly .30) driving a 2005 GMC Yukon plowed into a '99 Honda Accord at 70 MPH. He pretty much wiped out most of a family, (wife and two kids). Witnesses say he was weaving in/out of lanes, driving like an A-hole, etc. This is, or should be; pretty much an open and shut case. :yes:

However, much fanfare is being made about how the Yukon's "black-box" will provide the needed margin of proof to raise the charge from vehicular manslaughter to murder. The data recorder shows a speed of 70 MPH at impact, and no effort to hit the brakes.

Understand that I hope this piece of trash rots in jail, then hell. However I am troubled by the idea that your own property may now be compelled to testify against you. So much for the fifth amendment. Some might try to make the argument that the car was not yet paid for, or a lease, blah, blah. Be careful what you argue for, as most of us are still paying a mortgage...!

Seems to me this is the perfect case for introducing black-box data, since you've got a blatant drunk SOB, and a dead mom/kids. You don't really need this data for the case, (tons of witnesses) but who's going to object? Those pro-death and mayhem bleeding hearts that respect the constitution?

Interested in your thoughts.... :smoke:

[Gerrit]

As long as the law don't require us to retrofit blackboxes on amps to record (no pun intended) the Db level that we play my music at :scratch2:

"but officer it wasn't THAT loud" BS son look at these figures in the BB.

But seriously, on public roads, I don't think it's a bad idea if the cuase of an accident can be determined by something like a BB. Might also clamp down on bogus insurance claims and help expose shyte designs (like exploding fuel tanks etc.) That is if the data in the BB can be trusted.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards

Gerrit

[EchoWars]

When a crime has been commited and you are a prime suspect, any property that law enforcement deems appropriate to prove their case is regularly used in court...I see nothing new here, just an extention of prevailing laws allowing evidence to be collected and used in prosecuting a case.

[OvenMaster]

Some will say their privacy is being invaded. In this case I say :bs: . If you're doing nothing wrong on a public road then I see no reason to hide what you're doing because your actions affect everyone else around you. I'd have no objection if it were in my car.

http://www.vetronix.com/diagnostics/cdr/vehicle_list.html

shows where BBs are located on the modern North American-market cars that possess them. Happy hunting! :D

Tom

[dgwojo]

I still can't figure out WTF this A$$hole was doing behind the wheel at 5 times the legal alcohol limit, Michigan is a .08 state, he was at .43, most people would be dead, why did his company send him home drunk?? Call a cab!! Now there's 4 innocent people dead!! The black boxes do seem to invade your privacy but I guess that's technology, there's probably more good than bad that will come of them, Dave. :no:

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4447576/detail.html

Update; todays Detroit Free Press indicates that drunk driver might gone to lunch with his manager, while tips say he was seen at a casino, HMMM?

http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/wreck10e_20050510.htm

[rylos]

I think that although this data could be of great value in cases like the drunk driver, I think that it should only be accessible by court order. This would limit it's use to actual accidents, not just because it's handy. I don't think this type of data should be available for routine revue. Checking all your driving moves under a microscope by comparing this type of data, GPS data, etc. to look for any possible infractions leaves no margin for normal human oversights that commonly occur while driving, that usually cause no damage. Unless it can be shown that it's likely that I broke a particular law, it's no business of anyone else's what my driving is like. By the way, I do take pains to not speed, I am also one of the few people in this city that actually stops at stop signs, etc., so it's not like I'm out there driving like a lunatic & don't want to be caught. It's just that it's my business, not big brother's.

Just because it's soon going to be possible to monitor what everyone does all the time doesn't mean that it should be done.