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'Black boxes' in GM cars increasingly help police after accidents

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If you go to the extreme, why do cars go faster than 75MPH, I don't know of a road in the US where it's legal to go faster than that. OK, maybe I do but I'll likely never see it... I believe montana or something had no posted limits through some of the Desert HWY's but even they had a limit of some sort. Basically the GOVN is saying it's NOT safe to go faster than 75MPH anywhere at anytime. Yet, nearly all cars that are built can exceed that limit.

There was a company that was paying for your car if you let them put an advertisement on it and were driving it enough miles each month. They used a GPS device to track where you go and how fast you drive, etc. That will suck if / when they are installed in cars and your insurance company gets a monthly report of your driving or you don't get insurance. 😛

I wouldn't be surprised if more and more rental companies start tracking your driving habits via the available (sometimes for an extra charge) GPS devices. There was a case where some were charging drivers extra if they exceeded a self imposed maximum speed limit while using their car.

Scary stuff.


 
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'd agree to have one, so long as I get a reduced insurance premium because of it. If I agree to have this, then I pretty much agree to drive responibly. If I agree to drive responsibly, then I'm a lower risk to the insurance company. If I'm a lower risk to the insurance company, then I deserve a lower premium because of it.
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Actually, if you tell your insurance company, then WILL actually reduce your rates because of this. If you have a camera, that will be easy proof as to whose fault it is. But finding a cheap camera service is very hard.
 
Actually, if you tell your insurance company, then WILL actually reduce your rates because of this
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Seriously? Damn. I didn't think that it would actually happen. Does it go on as a discount like ABS, auto-locking doors, and side impact air bags?
 
I like the idea. They can prove useful in sorting out what really happened in an accident, and they could also be invaluable to auto manufacturers in being able to gather real-world data about accidents, and coming up with more effective safety features.

There is obviously a privacy issue. I don't think cops should be able to walk around with a pocket PC and demand to download the data based on "probable cause," and I don't think it's that easy to access anyway. It's at least something that a cop would have to physically "get" if he wanted that information--they can't just dial up a web page and see how fast you were going.
In that regard, it would be one of those things that would be obtained by a subpoena in the case of an accident or crime.
It should also never be illegal to disable the device, or request that your car not be built with one--it's your car, and you should be able to use it as you see fit as long as you aren't endangering people's lives.

As for
I certainly wouldn't want a car that spys on me in favor of the police.
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Exactly how does data collection favor one party or another? If you were suspected of vehicular homicide, and the data from the black box indicated that you were going below the speed limit, braked, swerved, took your foot off the gas, did everything you could to prevent an accident, that data will have spied on you in favor of you.
Data do not have bias--bias comes from interpretation.
 
Well if the car is leased or being financed, they have every right to have monitoring equipment in it. It's their property(finance company) untill you pay it off. It also helps them develop safer cars with some of the info that the boxes record.
 
Originally posted by: ZaneNBK
3.5 - 7 is complete and utter BS. 100 in a 45, 0.26 blood level, innocent person dead. That's not an accident in my book. Not homicide but not an accident either. I hope the family of the victim takes that guy to civil court and sues the crap out of him for wrongfull death or something similar.
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I think it should be called what it is: murder :| It's bs to say "I did not think that would happen" or "I did not mean for that to happen". People know -- and some choose to ignore -- the grave risk of driving while intoxicated.
 
how to solve the problem:

1. Black box only records in 30seconds-1min loops, since most crashes happen within that time frame.

2. No transmitters, you can only physically retrieve the data in the black box.

3. You can only retrieve data after an accident.

Wala, no more privacy concerns.
 
I still think it's bullsh1t..I once got into an accident because some guy pulled out in front of me. As in, he was taking a left turn and instead of stopping in the middle, he stopped in the middle of my lane. I figured he'd keep going, but he didn't, and I hit him. Yes, I was speeding, they measured my skid marks and it was partial fault...even though I still don't think it was my fault because if he doesn't pull out, I don't hit him, end of story. I wouldnt' ahve been able to stop anyways even if i was going the speed limit. But assuming I have the damn recorder in my car, the guy says that he was stopped in the median and I hit him, but in reality he was stopped in my lane, theres no witnesses. So basically, he denies it, they check my black box, see i was speeding, and it becomes completely my fault...
Personally, I would never buy a GM car...and I will never buy any car that has one of these recording devices in it. I decided that day that if a car pulled out in front of me again, I'd just hit them..no skid marks left...just flat out hit them so it would be al ltheir fault. That and if for some reason I fly off the road during a snowstorm and the cops are called and I don't want to tell them how fast I was going I don't want them to be able to look at the recorder to be able to give me a ticket.
I will agree that if you just killed someone, then it's probably a good idea to have a black box...but other than that, i'm completely against it.
 
Originally posted by: CrazyDe1
I still think it's bullsh1t..I once got into an accident because some guy pulled out in front of me. As in, he was taking a left turn and instead of stopping in the middle, he stopped in the middle of my lane. I figured he'd keep going, but he didn't, and I hit him. Yes, I was speeding, they measured my skid marks and it was partial fault...even though I still don't think it was my fault because if he doesn't pull out, I don't hit him, end of story. I wouldnt' ahve been able to stop anyways even if i was going the speed limit. But assuming I have the damn recorder in my car, the guy says that he was stopped in the median and I hit him, but in reality he was stopped in my lane, theres no witnesses. So basically, he denies it, they check my black box, see i was speeding, and it becomes completely my fault...
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I don't really follow....they knew you were speeding without a black box, so either way whether the other guy did something wrong (e.g. crossed the center line), there isn't any physical evidence of it, but there is physical evidence of you doing something wrong. So either way you'd be screwed. If they didn't pin the blame on you 100% without the black box, why would they with it? It doesn't give them anything extra to exonerate the other guy....
 
That and if for some reason I fly off the road during a snowstorm and the cops are called and I don't want to tell them how fast I was going I don't want them to be able to look at the recorder to be able to give me a ticket.
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Well now... In that case it would be purely for your safety. You know that, right?
 
Originally posted by: CrazyDe1
I still think it's bullsh1t..I once got into an accident because some guy pulled out in front of me. As in, he was taking a left turn and instead of stopping in the middle, he stopped in the middle of my lane. I figured he'd keep going, but he didn't, and I hit him. Yes, I was speeding, they measured my skid marks and it was partial fault...even though I still don't think it was my fault because if he doesn't pull out, I don't hit him, end of story. I wouldnt' ahve been able to stop anyways even if i was going the speed limit. But assuming I have the damn recorder in my car, the guy says that he was stopped in the median and I hit him, but in reality he was stopped in my lane, theres no witnesses. So basically, he denies it, they check my black box, see i was speeding, and it becomes completely my fault...
Personally, I would never buy a GM car...and I will never buy any car that has one of these recording devices in it. I decided that day that if a car pulled out in front of me again, I'd just hit them..no skid marks left...just flat out hit them so it would be al ltheir fault. That and if for some reason I fly off the road during a snowstorm and the cops are called and I don't want to tell them how fast I was going I don't want them to be able to look at the recorder to be able to give me a ticket.
I will agree that if you just killed someone, then it's probably a good idea to have a black box...but other than that, i'm completely against it.
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I seriously doubt that the blackbox would ONLY record your speed. It would probly also record what kind of turns you made, how sharp, etc. So it would have detected him turning into your lane and pulling out & stopping in front of you.
 
Car black boxes are a great idea, IMO. I know that some people are against the idea of having what they're doing recorded by a black box, but seriously, it'll probably help you more than it'll hurt you.
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Oh yeah the insurance companies would love this. Make you have one in your car. Make you transmit data daily. Raise your rates every time the GPS/coordinates/road information/speed limit does not match your recorded speed.
 
Anyone that says these things only kick in during an accident is sh1tting you. My bud got a new Ford truck last year, he took it in for warranty service, they gave him a hard time about it because they knew everything from how many times he manually downshifted to how many times he redlined it. The real kicker is, he swears he disconnected the battery overnight before taking it in. Big Brother is already a passenger in your car and you'd better behave.
 
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
Anyone that says these things only kick in during an accident is sh1tting you. My bud got a new Ford truck last year, he took it in for warranty service, they gave him a hard time about it because they knew everything from how many times he manually downshifted to how many times he redlined it. The real kicker is, he swears he disconnected the battery overnight before taking it in. Big Brother is already a passenger in your car and you'd better behave.
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Well if you dont drive like you stole it, its not a problem then is it?

-PAB
 
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
Anyone that says these things only kick in during an accident is sh1tting you. My bud got a new Ford truck last year, he took it in for warranty service, they gave him a hard time about it because they knew everything from how many times he manually downshifted to how many times he redlined it. The real kicker is, he swears he disconnected the battery overnight before taking it in. Big Brother is already a passenger in your car and you'd better behave.
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So all the Ford mechanics in America know about this, yet there hasn't been an expose about this in Car and Driver or some similar car themed magazine? I'm just not buying it.
 
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