Black Boxes to Track Driving Habits?

Nofsck Ingcloo writes "Nando Times is reporting on a new model of black boxes to track teens' driving habits. 'This is like having a parent sitting next to him second by second.... The kids don't like it, but the parents love it.... Originally developed... for ambulances and fire trucks to reduce crashes, the black box is a stripped-down version of that model.' So, how long before the insurance companies persuade the states to mandate these devices in every car? Or raise our rates hugely and then give a little of it back if we put in the box?"

Another submitter sent in a related submission about the collision data recorders in many late-model cars - which serve a similar purpose as the black boxes described above, but generally only record the last five seconds before an accident.

geemon writes "With the recent stories of rental car companies using GPS to track how and where their patrons are using their vehicles, this information about autos from 1996 and newer having an airplane-like accident "black box" capability was a complete surprise. Tucked under the drivers seat of most GM vehicles, the "black box" can store a variety of info such as vehicle and engine speed, braking, and seat belt usage. Info from an accident reconstruction service that uses this data can be found here. Called "event data recorders", these devices were, "...Originally designed to improve air bag performance based on the severity of the collision, the event data recorder can tell traffic accident investigators about the car's speed; engine RPMs; how far the accelerator pedal was pressed; if the brakes were applied; whether the drivers seatbelt was buckled and what warning lights were on - all from five seconds before impact..." It seems that GM and perhaps Ford have been using this for some time. Here is one company that makes the Windows based retrieval hardware/software combo for $2500. Imagine the uses of this data that law enforcement, your insurance company, and lawyers may have after your next little mishap."

Comments

Re:rediculous

[SirSlud]

Pardon my bluntness, but are you a retard? This black box is sold by a private enterprise. Parents love it. Nowhere does government come into this equation.

What a pitiful little groundless stab at government, whom, might I add, DONT want this in every car. It's the private enterprise that would like it in every car. Total market saturation == most successful business.

Re:Paranoia

[natefaerber]

Can we stop with the black-helicopters-are-watching-me-through-the-tele phone tin-foil hat paranoia for just a day or two? This kind of sensationalizing gets really old when every single piece of technology is just another tool for The Man to spy on us, regardless of legitimate uses (sound familiar?) it might have.

I was trying to rebut this when I started to realize Wrexen may have a point. Slashdotters want the government to leave the technology (eg. P2P, DeCSS, etc.) alone and punish the abusers. Here Slashdotters want to suppress the technology to avoid the abusers. Sounds just like the MPAA and RIAA's argument.

And to the argument that "Insurance companies have too many politicians in their pocket and we have no say...", then the system is broken. Do something to fix that first.

fuck off

[twitter]

...every single piece of technology is just another tool for The Man to spy on us, regardless of legitimate uses (sound familiar?) it might have.

What else would you call a device that collects personal information about you that only a vendor or law enforcement can read? A camera I mount in my car that does the same thing so I can share the information with who I please is a much different proposition from that kind of trash. It would be nice if I had control over the device, but I don't. It's like the fifth ammendment inverted.

Fucking motorcycles

[Frank of Earth]

Why don't they put a little black box that can monitor when these fucking motorcycle drivers drive in the middle lane, passing cars in traffic.

Or when they go flying past you in the shoulder doing 100mph.

Re:What's the problem?

[twitter]

I would assume that if anyone did want to get ahold of it against your will they would have to get a court order.

If these boxes become mandatory, and they will, you will not be allowed to withhold the evidence anymore than you can keep the police from examining the rest of your vehicle.

Frankly I'd like to have one of these babies in my car. It would remove a lot of uncertainty around what caused an accident: ("As you can see Judge, I was indeed stopped and my brake lights were working when the idiot rear ended me")

If the device were reliable, that might be right. But you can't read the box yourself so you can never verify it, can you? In fact, you have no idea what the evil little thing is collecting or how accurate it is, do you? When you get a letter from your insurace company informing you that your risk category has been changed how will you be able to defend yourself? You can't, you will simply suck it up and pay.

Nice talking to you again, little rodent. You are always so wrong headed.

Re:It is their vehicle...

[FFFish]

Do you think I give a good goddamn how *YOU* see the lane assignments. The *LAW*, no matter how asinine it is, defines the speed limits.

Want the speed to be faster? Lobby to have it changed. In the meantime, get the fuck off my ass end, before I snap and slam on the brakes, putting *you* at fault for a rear-end collision. I've done it before, and I'll do it again.

Refer to my next post for more detail.

Re:It is their vehicle...

[FFFish]

Look, smeg-for-brains, if people start doing the speed limit, everyone *will* be driving the same speed.

Problem fucking solved. We'll all be a whole helluva lot safer when assholes like you, driving twice the speed limit on country roads, are taken off the road because the insurance companies have discovered that you're a morbidly unsafe driver.

You think the speed limit is too low? Then lobby to have it changed.