> >
> >There have been articles about GM black boxes installed in my local
> >newspaper. It sounded pretty experimental and limited. Rental cars
> >had gotten a bunch and they are charging customers for speeding with
> >their cars according to the article until some attorney general told > >them to stop.
> >
>
> I should bloody well hope so! Sorry, but I will never condone a "black
> box" in a car. It is one step from the benign black box to the "big
> brother" black box that automatically deducts $150 from your bank
> account each and every time you go so much as 1/2 MPH over the speed
> limit! Beware the slippery slope!
>
> Where I live it was bad enough with the cash grap photo-radar program.
> There was so much public outcry, the government stoped the practice of
> using photo-rader cameras - BECAUSE it was proven that their use DID
> NOT reduce incidence of traffic accidents, but they DID gross a LOT of > $$$$ in fines!
>
> The use of traffic cameras has been put in to monitoring
> intersections. Those who enter after the light turns red, get a fine.
> This application HAS reduced traffic accidents AND fatalities.
>
> Oh well better late than never.
>
> As to the black box in a car, forget it! There are too many personal
> rights and freedoms at stake. I would hate to make an error in
> judgement in a crissis, only to find out that I was going to go to
> JAIL because of the way some civil servant interpreted the data in the
> box! The box cannot record the entire scene, and cannot give a full
> account of what happened, therefore, it should NOT be able to be used
> to charge an individual.
>
If your vehicle is relatively modern 1996+, and it has air bags, then you've got a black box that, at the very least, records your seat belt status, speed, and how hard - timing between stages in accelerometers - you hit at time of impact. The original intention of this was for the MANUFACTURER to figure out how well the system performed, and figure out why in the event of an un-needed deployment. Things have gotten much smarter since:
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Also, read the part that says"contains crash data recording capability and a serial data link for vehiclesystems communications." and also "Crash data recording functions to assistforensic engineering"