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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.
He should've looked both ways before crossing the street. Dip shit.
Part of me is perfectly happy to cage someone that drives like that much of an asshole, and kills someone to boot.
Then part of me is scared to death of such an invasion of privacy and curtailing of personal liberties.
I mean, I SHOULD be able to drive like that and I SHOULD be able to kill someone and I shouldn't have to worry about Big Brother knowing about it.
But that doesn't exactly take into consideration the poor soul that was run down by this idiot, does it?
I don't really have a point except to answer the comments that will inevitably be made here about freedoms and government encroachment of our civil liberties... There is always a balance between complete freedom and the public good, and it's never an easy line to draw. I'm generally for letting people do whatever the hell they want until their actions hurt someone. In this instance, they clearly have, so it becomes a difficult topic.
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Man is dead, and surprisingly enough it wasn't due to actions of the US, but a citizen of their gentle neighbor to the north.
I usually think they're pointless as well, but this guy takes bad spelling to a new level. Wreckless, loose, privilages, rediculous, Jesus dude could your spelling be any worse? These are not typos either, this is just bad grammar. A fine product of American public schools, I'm sure.
The entire country's economy would fall apart. I love how they claim it's not a right, when driving is required to make this large spread out nation work.
Blar.
That's a stupid comment, it is like saying, restricting my right to publish a newpaper doesn't restrict my right to free speach, after all I can still go down to the city square and say anything I want.
What's wrong with throwing dynamite into a lake?
Is there any party who has suffered a demonstrable injury from tossing in the dynamite? If not, than there's nothing wrong with it.
Maybe that wasn't the point, though...
Then you bring in this 'argument from adverse consequences' (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavourable" decision). about shooting people.
Focus, Please.
Let's say you OWN a car, it's YOURS. YOU CAN PROVE IT BY SHOWING THE CORRECT PAPERWORK.
You have the RIGHT to do with it as you will.
Isn't *that* what FREEDOM *is*? Being able to do WHAT YOU WANT, with your shit?
Now, I suspect you're going to say, "The State Owns The Roads"
Betcha a dollar "The State" can't prove it. And some piddly ass A.D.A. CERTAINLY CANNOT PRODUCE THE PAPERWORK. (much less actually prove the existance of his "client", and a real "attorney/client" relationship with them...)
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black box records you. Oh, hang on...