Posted on 08/04/2004 12:57:35 AM PDT by kattracks
August 4, 2004 -- WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday recommended for the first time that the federal government require passenger vehicles to be equipped with black boxes that record speed, seat-belt use, braking and other factors. The safety board's recommendation arose from its investigation into the July 16, 2003, farmers market crash in Santa Monica, Calif.Safety investigators were unable to interview the elderly driver who stepped on the gas instead of the brake, plowing into the open-air market, killing 10 and injuring 63.
The board concluded that investigators could have gained a better scientific understanding of the driver's behavior had his 1992 Buick LeSabre been outfitted with an event-data recorder.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Seig Heil!!!
Maybe the black box could tell if the driver has a rag on his head, and more than four hundred pounds in the trunk!
It isn't and they do.
Drivers licenses are limited to citizens and legal visitors. However, try to take away a drivers license for anything other than breaking a law. Driving IS a right. Illegals are denied other rights, among them a jury trial before deportation.
Viewing it as an arbitrarily conferrable priviledge leads to abominations like the "roadless lands" initiatives that attempt to keep the public off public lands.
Citizens have the right to travel by whatever means they desire.
Ann Rand.
Calling Ann Rand.....
LOL, but, oh how true!!
Next year it will be "Feds Want Citizens Equipped With Black Boxes".
Unfortunately the government doesn't think that way, and most Americans are too comfortable (trained) with the government watching out for them to understand what the real problem is.
We just need a simple and untraceable way of deleting the data.
He he he... or falsifying it.
Apparently there is a common data format so it shouldn't be that difficult.
Of course they will probably make that a felony, too.
Gopod points, the NTSB is supposed to be involved in determining cause of accidents primarily so that defective equipment can be required to be fixed. (Think of defective tires for example). Of course the trial lawyers get the reports and use them as the basis for law suits. It is significant that more and more they are trying to find contributory negligence causes in all accidents. (You are hurt by a rear end collision totally the other guy's fault but you were found not to be properly seat belted making you partially responsible for your injuries.)
This does not make sense coming from the NTSB, but it does make sense coming from the trial lawyers assn. I suspect the trial lawyers have too many fingers in the NTSB, and congress should investigate. (Oh wait, I forgot, congress is infected with the trial lawyers too.)
As to the 2nd Amendment and your blunderbuss argument - I agree 100%. But we know full well that the socialists are attempting to chip away daily on those rights. Kennedy and his 'Cop Killer Bullet Bill' being the current stealth attack. If we so chose, we should have a right to own a .50 Cal Barrett (now under attack) an AK-47, M-16 or any full auto rifle. Now do I want an RPG, no. Should we have a right to one... hmmm that's a toughie. But if I wanted a "Tommy Gun" I should be able to get one.
As to the 1st Amendment and "freedom of speech, print, broadcast, to produce videos or audiotapes or write websites". Here I disagree, as I believe we do need "some common sense publishing controls". I see no reason why seditious hate speech spewed by the likes of Kennedy, Daschle, Kerry cannot be controlled. And Every time some gun grabbing socialist starts spewing their tripe, I'd love to throw the same points right back at them regrading their freedoms by substituting "the press" for guns. They'd go apoplectic.
What I also find amazing is that to the anti-American, hate spewing Leftists only the 14th Amendment and one part of the 1st is sacrosanct (freedom of the press). All other of our 'rights' can, and now are subject to some form of "common sense control". Heck even most of the 5th Amendment now has limits (Eminent domain being one erosion).
In conclusion (do I hear cheers?), I still see driving as a privilege not a god given right.
All motorsports require the use of a black box for crash data analysis. A harder crash will result in officials analysing the data of a crash, and if you're the defendant, and they charge you ran into the other guy, and the computer says the other bloke hit you, the computer can detect the problem.
CCWS, IRL, and NASCAR require the use of data recorders. The CCWS uses a Ford product, the IRL uses a Delphi product (DISCLAIMER: I hold Delphi shares), and Independent Witness is used by NASCAR, the World Rally Championship, and other major series.
Auto makers want to use the black box to analyse crashes and use the data to improve auto safety. Safety is always a moving target and this allows it.
It's not about safety. It will be used to collect mileage taxes.
Or...until they outlaw cars/trucks/engines..etc..etc..older than 15 years. It's probably coming....
It should be easy to throw in a GPS receiver and data recorder, so the car's exact past routes and locations can be established. For the last day's travel, or for the life of the car: it's just a matter of a tiny bit of memory. I think we'll see this in the name of the WOT in the next couple of years.
A black box can only record the last 30-60 seconds of data for the most part. It cannot detect mileage.
But too it hurts John Edwards. Trumped-up charges and false charges can be defused by this black box. That makes it more important than what people think. If this can stop ambulance chasers from making millions on false charges, it hurts Edwards.
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