Posted on 10/09/2005 5:04:56 PM PDT by Ben Mugged
In what is becoming a familiar scene in courtrooms nationwide, information collected from a car’s “black box” was used to convict a motorist of criminal charges.
On June 30, a Peabody, Mass., District Court jury found Michelle Zimmerman guilty of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide in the death of her front seat passenger, Kenneth Carlson. The jury concluded Zimmerman was driving negligently when she skidded out of control and struck a tree on Jan. 4, 2003. Information collected from the event data recorder (EDR), or black box, in her GMC Yukon reported that Zimmerman was driving 58 mph in a 40 mph zone—on an icy road, according to Essex Assistant District Attorney William J. Melkonian. EDR data also showed that Zimmerman never applied the brakes.
Judge Santo Ruma sentenced Zimmerman to two years in prison, one year to be served with the balance suspended for three years of probation. The conviction carries a statutory 10-year loss of license.
Defense lawyer Robert Weiner has vowed to appeal based on his claims that the EDR data was misinterpreted and that police illegally obtained the data. The case could set a legal precedent in Massachusetts and nationwide where EDR information already has been introduced in more than two-dozen cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at abrn.com ...
I am not looking up for your approval, be sure of that. And that hole, well you might be the one to end up in it . Been here way too long to listen to your propaganda without speaking out and no, I have not pinged anyone to this thread, you are not worth it.
What exactly is "my propaganda"?
Who said I was seeking your approval?
I could care less who you ping or do not ping, that means nothing to me.
My worth isn't determined by you, but yours sure is.
Funny how this goes like this...."Since you have been here less than a week and your tag line depicts your mental status I understand why you might think the way you do."
You dug the whole, its your hole, deal with it. You drew first blood accept that and move on.
Now, GOMN.
Frankly, the "priviledge" argument is pure garbage. The right to unencumbered travel, without fanatical control freaks interefering, is essential to personal liberty.
I await the first attempt at taking control of all actions of the driver by a future system that will be sold as a safety feature to ensure that public roads are as secure as a mother's womb.
The right to unencumbered travel,
Is this to mean unencumbered by true facts?
How about me having that same right when it comes to others obeying the rules of the road?
Isn't the idea of "in writing" full of merit in a court? Isn't this just a technological advance of that idea?
Don't get started on the "obeying the rules of the road" fantasy. No one, no one, obeys all of the rules, all of the time. Not the police, nor the most anal retentive, brown-nosing law-abider.
You can travel all you want unencumbered by the law, it's the vehicle you choose that matters. Are you arguing that you should be able to take a large private airplane up without having to prove your competency or having to obey the rules of flight once up there? If your choice of vehicle has the potential to be a severely lethal object then you have to agree to some regulation of your travel. Otherwise walk, ride a horse, or ride a bicycle.
Your argument is as hollow and vacuous as the "why do you need a gun? I suppose you think you have a right to a howitzer, or an A-bomb." crap that the infantile Left likes to spew.
As to the newbie thing...the very opening page of this site says JUMP RIGHT IN. So get off that crap.
I think the constitution is a common sense document that was written simple so that it could last thru all time.
Privacy rights are interpretations in courts.
I am not most newbies. I have hung around here READING for a good while and understand how many things work here. Some would say this ain't my first rodeo ;).
I would ask who you think YOU are. Judging me based on sign up date and nickname. You BASHED ME instantly.
You are not my mother nor my father so stop trying to act like it.
You show more and more that you fear truth. I am sorry you feel that way.
I think that our forefathers fled a society where bueracracy trumped truth. I think they fled a society that would think things should be done a way because they always were done that way, to form a a society that would take each day as it came and apply simple basic common sense to each and every day and event in its own context.
Admit it, you FEAR facts, and claim privacy as your vehicle to avoid them.
Terrorists LOVE your train of thought. They use it against this country and its people to the tune of attack after attack. JEEZ, man you sound like nancy pelosi and barbera boxer!
There is NO right to privacy to break the law friend. Think about that.
You are starting to sound more and more like my old friend Cultural Jihad. Whats next, GPS system to go along inside the black box so that each year you get you vehicle inspected they can matc time, speed and position to give you a citation for all the laws you broke that year??? Give me a break, to some point this is a nation of outlaws, if it wasn't we wouldn't have radar detectors, bails bondsmen, lawyers or politicians. Take your high and mighty self elsewhere as far as I am conserned. Prove my guilt on your nickel, not mine. If you are a prosecutor and you charge me use your money and your resources to prove it, don't ask me to give you proof of what I may or may not have done. You people make me sick. You want me to be found guilty of a crime, you spend your money and time to do it.
"stupid"? almost every driver over the age of 60 has braking raction slower then a younger person. are they all "stupid"? when the black box shows they didn't hit the brakes before a fatal accident, should they all be jailed?
Autos are very dangerous, even deadly, to people in the vicinity. For the very same reasons people need rules to cover operating an aircraft (which apparently you agree to), people need rules to cover operating an auto.
Your argument is as hollow and vacuous as the "why do you need a gun?
You're switching the argument to guns, now? You were the one who said: "Don't be rediculous (sic). We're talking about autos, here." At least adhere to your own admonitions.
read that again... I think the law is only meant as a disclosure to the buy or renter of the car that the EDR is on the car...
Do you think all drivers over the age of 60 should be exempt from being charged with criminal negligence for any fatality or severe injury they are responsible even if they were in violation of some traffic law at the time?
of course, the standard should be malice or negligence - DUI, street racing, etc. 18MPH over the limit is not negligence. hell, on a 55MPH highway, the typical speed is 70MPH (even in the rain) - that's 15 over the limit right there. that would mean that any driver getting into a crash resulting in injuries under those conditions should face jail time. its ridiculous.
and that posted speed limit, like all other posted speed limits (except in some western states) is set artificially low to encourage ticket revenue. if you went to that road on a normal day, you would likely find 80% of people doing 50-55 in that 40 zone.
imagine if we gave government the power to use black boxes to enforce a vague standard like "reasonable and proper". the goal here is simply to potentially criminalize any motor vehicle incident that involves injury. the government wants that power, and the black box helps give it to them.
what traffic law? speeding? 80% of drivers exceed the posted limit. that's your standard to criminalize?
ths issue in my post was that the black box also measures braking reaction time. any person over 60 has worse reaction then a younger person. do we use that fact to make criminals out of them in accidents involving injury, that they braked too late or not at all? does everyone have to be able to brake like Jeff Gordon now?
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