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 ...
the other problem is that is "criminalizes" poor driving. if you don't hit the brakes, maybe its just because your eye-to-foot coordination is bad.
Not here in Texas, you are asked where you want the car towed.
Police have cameras in their cars to keep a record of what happens (good and bad). It seems when the tape doesn't show what the officer claimed (or captures outright abuse of power) the evidence "disappears".
Life is funny that way.
Until all government vehicles are so accounted, I see no reason to force this on the citizens.
Do you live in your car or something?
If not, then go home and close the blinds and you can have privacy. The road is public place and potentially dangerous. It would one thing if everyone had their own private road to drive on. No one would care if you drove recklessly. But these roads are shared and are public places. That means there have to be some rules.
let's say you are involved in a fatal accident with your car, the police don't impound it?
There can be hesitation in applying the brakes as well trying to remember which of your cars is front wheel drive or rear wheel drive. When you go into a spinout on ice, you'd better not cut the wheel in the wrong direction when you hit the brakes.
The problem is even more compounded when you are in a rental or otherwise borrowed car.
"The memory used is astatic RAM and is not sensitive to magnetism."
How about EMP?
I like the boxes. If going 58 in a 40 zone I think it shows the problem quite well. I would add that it would show going 40 in a 50 zone just the same and thus work both ways, to provide Truth about what the vehicle was doing.
We look to black boxes( which are actually orange) in airplanes to tell us what happened I think it is a great idea for vehicles as well.
As for the privacy detractors, I would offer that there is no right to privacy to break the law. 58 in a 40 is clearly doing so. Claiming privacy in this context is actually backing the hiding of truth.
The truth shall set you free.......if you are innocent.
Or alternately -- just obey the driving laws; then the black box is your witness, on your side, proving how good of a driver you are.
except that probably 80% of drivers exceed the speed limit on almost every road - and the black box shows that. so basically if they get into an accident where someone is injured, the "system" can make criminals out of them.
what will happen if this is taken to the full extreme - people will routinely flee the scene of accidents.
Not that I am aware of. The accident investigation is done at the scene.We still do have some property rights down here. Not saying a warrant couldn't be issued to have it done but I believe it would take at least that.
If there are "rules" then they would apply to all drivers and this would be mandatory equipment even for "classics".
This lawsuit is not being waged to protect the other drivers on the road, the case mentioned was about a passenger in this person's car. Would have been the same lawsuit even if they were on private property.
I don't accept the nanny state argument.
exactly right. the black box can show all of that - your speed, when you brake, if you veered, in which direction you veered, etc - so unless you had perfect car control, you can be convicted of manslaughter (as an example) based on the data. its crazy.
Say the driver in this case had been driving the limit (40) which STILL would have been too fast for weather conditions.
At what point would the driver have been compliant with the law with regards to speed?
"What if" the driver had wrecked at 40mph? Would (s)he still be charged with failure to control speed (by not applying the brakes prior to impact)?
what percentage of drivers around you (and yourself) exceed the posted speed limit? take note of it next time you drive. where I drive, its >80%.
BS, 80% of drivers speed that doesn't make them wreckless. All those boxes are for the lawyers and the law suits to follow.As I said earlier, I can understand with public transportation but not private, we have enough of big brother in oour lives.
yup. if it wasn't the speed, they would have used the lack of braking to convict. and had they braked, they would have looked at the data to see if they steered to try and avoid the collision. its a slippery slope, and once we get on it - every traffic accident that involves injury or death will be turned into a criminal trial. and how soon before the trial lawyers start asking for the data in civil cases too?
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