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 cars 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 zoneon 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 ...
How much more effective than red light cameras!
Freedom is freedom. If you do not know what it is then the government has already gotten to powerful. IMO
ANY computer can be hacked. Period.
a law is only obeyed when it is considered morally right and understood to promote the welfare of society. The constant passing of law after law foor every speicial interest makes a mockery of the legal system. No citizen anymore can even know the laws let only know if one is being obeyed or broken.
10000000% agree
disagree privacy is more important than justice. Without privacy you have no freedom. Without justice you still have freedom. So which is more important freedom or justice.
I am no fan of vehicle black boxes and a privacy advocate. I just wanted to add that 2 cents.
"Don't buy me a new car" ping
However, we've got do draw the line somewhere here - the technology is available to turn us all into perpetual criminals with death by a thousand cuts. The traffic laws are poorly designed and manipulated by many forces that have nothing to do with traffic safety. If most drivers were not keen on adapting to the chaotic road designs and traffic rules we would not be able to survive them.
The road I live on has a 25 mph speed limit on a 3 mile section where my house is, and a 35 mph limit further up. It is the same width, same density of houses, somewhat more curvy and hilly - it does not make sense. And if one observes the 25 mph speed limit, angry drivers take opportunities to veer around you - which is not safe at all.
Superhighways were designed for 70 mph plus, and in the 60's and 70's speed limits were 65-75 mph on these roads. But in the 70's Congress decided that we as a nation could save gas if cars traveled at 55 - so the 55 mph speed limit was imposed on the nations highways. Absolutely no consideration was given for the time value of the people being conveyed by those highways.
Then we get the know-it-all mutton heads declaring that the 55 mph speed limit was saving lives on the highways, because highway death tolls came down - of course they ignored the fact that most people pay no attention to the 55 mph limit unless a patrol car is in the vicinity - and then you get a nasty traffic snarl.
I believe that many traffic accidents are a result of poor road engineering, and can be remedied by attending to road design. Around here, I am aware of where there are high frequencies of accidents, and am quite careful while maneuvering through those spots.
For twenty years, we've had weekly crashes at one poorly controlled intersection between a highway exit (typically backed up to overflowing onto the highway during rush hour) onto a four lane overpass on a secondary route. The crashes are caused by lack of visibility, lack of traffic signals, and driver impatience and aggravation. Why aren't signals installed? I guess it is easier to blame crashes on the driver who is trying to negotiate the idiotic chaos created by the "authorities". It is clear to any thoughtful person who is familiar with the spot what the problem is. I expect that the people who crash there are unfamiliar with the spot.
So, we've got lots of design problems in our roads and traffic laws. And they will continue to be ignored by the "people in charge". (I've seen right turn on red signs qualified by multiple associated signs describing what days of the week and what times of the day it is prohibited - takes one almost as much time to read the signs as it does for the light to change: clearly we have idiots in charge).
Anyway, to be forced to comply with every idiotic nuance of the traffic laws by technology that records every infraction will cause massive, bloody revolt (I hope, I would not want to live in such tyranny).
I drove a GM rental car a while back that even had the tell-tale sign of the computer controlling the starter. It means that the government, through that "NorthStar" system can disable your car for whatever reason they dream up.
Guess you've never driven on ice.
I can and have many times gotten the speedometer over 60 MPH without even moving at a stop sign. The odometer agrees.
Who's to say the driving wheels didn't break traction, leading to a skid and the accident itself, while feeding falsely incriminating "data" to the recorder?
"Most people obey the law when they know they are being watched. Now, more drivers will know they are being watched."
Then you won't mind me setting up a camera in your home office so I can make a citizen's arrest should you cheat on your tax return.
this driving is a privilge and not a right has always bothered me a bit. when the constitution was written, my happiness would probably depend on me owning a horse or two.
so if i cant drive the car since its a privilege, ill just obey my founding fathers who surely would have allowed me to ride my horse on any roads i helped pay for. bottom line, get the filthy govt out of my life one way or another, its retarded, too dam expensive and is a vastly inferior product.
Remember all the lawsuits about 10 years ago about sudden vehicle acceleration? Or false airbag deployment?
Many if not most of today's newer vehicles utilize onboard computers (several) for engine control fuel management, anti-lock breaking systems, transmission control, suspension, airbag deployment, etc. It was only a matter of time for the manufacturers to add "post mortem" memory capability in order to defend themselves from suits claiming "the systems failed".
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