Automobile Black Box Sends Driver to Jail

myzor writes "This article from the Montreal Gazette reports that a driver got 18 months in jail for speeding that killed a man, after the black box in his car revealed he was going 157 km/h (98 mph) in a 50 km/h zone in downtown Montreal. The recording device, which stores data on how a car is driven in the last five seconds before a collision, showed that four seconds before impact, the driver had the gas pedal to the floor and didn't brake before impact." Reader ergo98 writes "Setting a precedent for the Canadian legal system, a Quebec man was convicted based upon the incriminating evidence found in his own car's black box." The Star also has another article looking at the issues surrounding the data recorder.

Comments

GOOD!

[TedTschopp]

A man was flooring the gas pedal, and he didn't even break before he hit someone.

Sounds like he was being an idiot.

Why are people so upset about things like this? I'm curious. What evern happened to personal responsibility?

Ted

Good thing

[jdifool]

Driving is ok.

Driving too fast is bad.

Killing people while driving can be a fucking crime.

When will people realize that, for god's sake ? You have no excuse when you kill someone while driving too fast, especially in downtown.

If only a government had the balls to resist the pressure of car manufacturers groups and impose an engine throttle limitation for common vehicles...

Regards,
jdif

Re:Wrong

[Col. Panic]

98 in a 30, vehicular manslaughter, not a first offense, and the defense calls 18 months "very, very severe?" i think he got off light.

Fifth amendment? Not likely.

[Kaseijin]

Can a persons property be compelled to testify against him?

That's pretty much the point of a search warrant.

Only 18 months?

[hackshack]

I see the relevance of posting this article to Slashdot- black box used as evidence- but what I found more interesting is that the guy's being sentenced to only 18 months for the murder of another person.