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IEEE Building Automotive Black-Box Standard
An anonymous submitter writes: "According to EE Times, the IEEE is working to develop an automotive black-box standard similar to what airplanes have. Forget Acme Rent-A-Car in Connecticut - get ready to have your insurance company jack your rates for going over 65mph."
Ah, what the hell... I've the karma to burn.
This level of rampant paranoia cracks me up. To hell with the positive benefits of making cars safer in the long run... no, let's strap on our tinfoil hats and find the black lining. Watch out, michael! Casio has made a deal with the porno industry! They've put a chip in your wristwatch so they can measure your pulse rate and report back on what particular twisted fetishes get you off the most! Watch out! Booga booga booga!
Freak.
-- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
I heard about this about 6 months ago being experimented with in Europe. It's a wonderful idea, especially in New Jersey which has the highest car insurance rate of probably anywhere.
The way it worked in this test program was a small monitor would gauge your speed (now that I think about it, another monitor guaging breaking habits could also be useful) such that if you were obeying the speed limits, you would get a discount on your insurance.
Insurance companies want to base rates on potential of accidents, and therefore, currently use statistics to determine rates. This means that I have an extrordinarily high insurance rate even though I'm a good driver simply because of my age and gender.
The idea isn't to fine people automatically (like in Demolition Man) but to reward people for good driving habits. The real piece of technology that needed improvement was GPS -> speed limit mapping, once that is perfected, I personally can't wait to sign up for this type of program.
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
These boxes are in fact orange!
You *can* drive safely at 90. Try visiting Germany (I'm English, but I live in Germany) for a fine practical demonstration. Most of the Autobahnen have no speed limit. I regularly drive 100-110mph and I'm regularly overtaken (by people with better cars). The annual likelihood of an American driver being involved in a fatal accident are 1 in 4,503. For a German driver, they're 1 in 6,676.
- word.
People are that much more alert about changing lane, staying in the correct lane, etc., when there's a possibility there's a Mercedes in the lane they're changing to, travelling 50mph faster than they are.
Most road traffic accidents (and an even higher proportion of fatal accidents) don't occur on motorways. In the normal case, you have a crash on a motorway, there's going to be a 10 or 20mph (or in Germany, say, 50mph) speed difference between the two cars. Have a head-on crash on a road with a 30mph speed limit, you've got a 60mph speed difference. It's the small local roads that need the attention, not the motorways/highways/turnpikes/autobahnen/pick-your
PenguiNet: the (shareware) Windows SSH client
Personally, I would be more in favor of a standardized system that would allow Police to pull data off a wrecked car to find out more about the crash. Since, as other people have mentioned, it would be hard put to use such a device to determine LIABILITY, Police (and Insurance) will still need to be satisfied with witness testimony. Being required to actively "pull" data from such a system, the potential for abuse will be greatly diminished.
-Bob
Putting a lot of expensive high-tech electronics into cars to collect crash data is stupid. First, you pay for a lot of gadgetry. Then, insurance companies will have a field day holding people responsible and refusing to pay out.
They should. That doesn't mean they will... auto insurance, being a state-mandated service, is not exactly the model of capitalism one would hope.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
One thing about German drivers is that there is a lot of training involved, and that it can cost an exhorbinant amount of money in order to get a liscense, somewhere around $1,500 for the manditory classes, liscense fees, etc. IIRC. If your in an accident and loose your liscense, well, how many can afford $1,500 for a new one?
Also, the cars in Germany have to meet perfomance requirements (have to stop within x feet at y mph, accelerate at a given rate, etc) on a yearly basis.
These two things taken together generally imply a safer driving enviroment. You know that the car that is going 120 MPH is not going to fall apart on the highway, and that the driver probably has ton of driving experience at said 120MPH.
Unless, of course, it's an american tourist who thinks that he can handle the speed, cause he watches all the NASCAR races on TV.
I still don't get the left land lane drivers, who think they're not obligated to get the hell over when someone comes up behind them. If I'm faster than you, regardless of whether or not I'm speeding, GET OVER if it's safe to do so. You're obligated to do so. Otherwise, you're taking the law into your own hands, which is not a wise thing to do. It's these type of people that initiate Road Rage, not the ones who speed, at least in my opinion.
/I/ should be the one give /YOU/ the dirty look, not the other way around. Yes, I hate these types of people, but I don't do anything to intentionally aggravate them. And when I have a free lane I'm gone, out of their hair. They probably fume about it for a long time after I'm gone, too, but that's not my problem. They should learn to respect someone who wants to drive faster than them, not get aggravated at them. Chances are I'll be the one with the expensive ticket, not them.
This simple concept is just wasted on most people, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. I'm the type of driver who will go as fast as I feel comfortable driving, and I realize others have different thresholds for this that allow them to drive faster than me. They don't scare me in the least, and I have no intention of intimidating them or blocking them by staying in the left lane when they come up on me. I get over, unlike most other 'friendly' drivers you find on the road.
Back to another point I was trying to make - it's not the 'law-breakers' that initiate Road Rage in my opinion, it's the 'normal' drivers. The people that seemed to get pissed are the ones who finally get over after you've been riding their ass for awhile, then when you pass them give you a dirty look, etc. Hey, buddy...you were SUPPOSED to get over when I came up on you.
mySig
The FAA expressely prohibits "Black box" (CVR/FDR) data from being used in any legal enforcement action. It is only accessible for accident investigation and safety purposes. In other words, an airline can't legally snoop the data and decide to fire you the pilot just because you did something wrong. Only if there was an accident, and the NTSB, using that data after the fact, proves your fault, then only in that case, the data plays a role in any discipline action.
One can only imagine that they will make such a policy for cars, hopefully!
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
There are times it is acceptable to exceed the speed limit: passing, before going up a hill, etc. Also, a speed limiter that worked in Hawaii (55 mph limit) might not work too well in Montana (limit = what the police think is safe for the roads and conditions). A speed limiter would have to be an extremely complex piece of technology to tell whether you were going 70 mph down a residential side street or passing someone at 70 mph on the interstate. Not only that, but it can also be unsafe to go slower than the speed of the traffic around you. If you can't go faster than 70 mph, but the traffic around you is doing 80, then all those non speed limited cars may end up crashing into you because they expect you're going faster. There is no really safe and effective speed limitation technology available.
That's it. I'm no longer part of Team Sanity.