Insurance companies will love this. The Authorities will love this. Wives and husbands being cheated on will love this. In short anyone can, legally or with a little bribe money, find out where your car has been.
Congress is now eyeing new legislation that would force the automotive industry to make safety updates to vehicles in the wake of the massive recalls by Toyota. If the legislation were made into law, all automakers would be required to install black boxes into their automobiles and to pay fees to the government to fund safety agencies.
The black boxes would record vehicle parameters leading up to an accident to help investigators determine if the accident was an issue with the vehicle or driver error. The draft of the legislation was released by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman of California. The legislation would also remove any caps on civil penalties a carmaker was subject to.
The legislation would also give the NHTSA the power to order an immediate recall of vehicles if it finds that there is an “imminent hazard of death or serious injury.” Other sections of the draft legislation would impose new safety standards that relate to brake override systems and preventing pedals from being trapped on the floor.
#15 “So many people objecting to the truth being known.”
Too true.
Do people really have an “expectation of privacy” for something they are doing in public view, on a public thoroughfare?
Next you’ll be telling me people want to sign an initiative petition without anyone else being able to know who actually signed it… oh, wait!
#19 got it first. Many of today’s vehicles have the equivalent of a black box in the electronic control module. My guess is this legislation would require a much greater capacity.
This looks more like a revenue scheme than anything else.
Waxman. His curse is having to shave in the morning and look at that disfigured puss.
Ok,
this is only the beginning.
They have another device Insurance corps love.
REMOTE KILL..
IF’ your car is stolen, they can use a device to disable your car.
Im a believer in the wild hiway..
Cars should be Death traps..
LET them speed all they want OUTSIDE of cities..
MAKE the driver liable for THEIR OWN damage..
I want you SCARED of driving. and you will be paranoid enough to DRIVE BETTER.
NOT depend on an insurance corp to SAVE you from paying for BEING AN IDIOT.
BASIC Liability should be WITH THE STATE, so that the State KNOWS how many accidents you have had, and if you cant SEE anymore, or if you LOVE your cellphone to much.
I suppose the one that don’t want them speed and drive reckless. I am all for them. Finally we can
Many already have them. Let’s get them in the cars so we can sue the pants off all these idiot drivers! Its about time we have a tell all box in cars. We need to prosecute bad driving that are causing accidents.
We may as well go all in with this. We already have tollway passes, red light cameras, neighborhood crime cameras, ATM cameras, cell phone tracking, warrantless phone taps, drive by smog testing, British spy satellite speed tickets and on and on…
(sarcasm start)
If it saves just one life, isn’t it justified?
(sarcasm end)
Anyone against this must be a bad driver? Because in the end it could get you out of a jam. We all know people lie. At least now you can prove what happened. Makes sense to me. If you drive right you need not worry. I have driven large trucks for 20 years and have had data recorders in my trucks for 10 of those years. Its about time a vehicles have them.
The vast majority of modern cars already have this technology and have for some time… I don’t see it as any big deal and hope that perhaps it will cut down on some insurance scams and lying bad drivers.
#29 # 29 jescott418 “If you drive right you need not worry.”
I think I saw something like that before, “If you have nothing to hide what’s the problem?”
They can already track you through your cell phone. Having a tracking device in the car is almost redundant except you might turn your phone off but if the government wants to stick a tracking device on a vehicle they don’t need a warrant.
Not sure if other people are allowed to do the same thing or not.
Many black boxes track much more than a few minutes to help the mechanic figure out what issues the vehicle may have. Throw in a gps device and well that pretty much takes care of that doesn’t it?
Many people and companies do put a gps tracking device into their cars and can turn the vehicle off remotely as part of onstar or some other system.
Speed limiters and auto braking are on their way if they aren’t already here. I don’t actually try to keep up with this sort of thing.
The only time driving should be considered a privilege is when your parents give you the keys to their car.
Oh yes first the government chips your car then they chip you.
Er…that doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with privacy, ie. where you are or where you were going. This thing doesn’t have or need GPS. You’re talking about black boxes like airplanes have. Those JUST record speed, G forces (in all directions), control actions (direction, braking, acceleration, etc). That’s ENTIRELY different from ‘big brother’ tracking you. I’d be PERFECTLY ok with just the ‘instrument’ data for the last 10 minutes (all that would need to be kept), but not with any ‘location’ data. There’s no need to know location for these issues.
Re #11… myself… “Who’s fault was it.?
Luckily I had 3 witnesses (strangers with empathy) who thankfully stayed around and told what they saw… which matched what I said. The light runner got charged.
BUT, if there were no witnesses, I would have been charged. When you make a left turn at a light, get hit, and there are no witnesses, you are automatically guilty of an unsafe turn. It was a very costly accident… 2 cars were totaled, and the guilty party probably had his insurance increase by at least $2000/ year for 6 years.
There were no intersection cameras, and neither of us had cars with any accident recording device. If I didn’t have witnesses I would have paid a lot for the other guy’s mistake.
Think of the “black box” as an honest witness. Also think of it as personal property. Unless you hear otherwise, I doubt that anyone can go through that personal property without your permission, or without you due cause… being in an accident.
Your fear of the device is illogical and unwarranted.
Skeptic==so that wasn’t rhetorical huh? I keep getting that wrong on this blog.
I don’t see how a recorder would have helped you in this case. You made a left turn, the issue is the status of the light at the time, not recorded by any internal system.
I also don’t think a left turn at a light is automatically suspect for just your circumstance.
People have a hard time with the truth when it doesn’t match their druthers. “Reality is not your friend” doesn’t win many followers.
If the other guy had a black box Bobbo, his braking and then speeding up, and also his speeding in a 60 kph zone (he hit so hard that my minivan skidded sideways 60 feet).
And yes, it’s an automatic penalty in Ontario. So is hitting someone from behind unless you can prove dangerous driving on their part.
Should add, that you are partly right. It would be harder to prove my case without witnesses, but something is better than nothing. I’m all for cameras at intersections as well. If someone or something is watching, people are more likely to behave themselves.
(# 35 Skeptic – Unless you hear otherwise, I doubt that anyone can go through that personal property without your permission, or without you due cause… being in an accident.)
As an option, fine. But once mandated, I’m betting the option/privacy will disappear. Not saying that’s good or bad — just saying.
Besides, if Waxman is in favor of it, I’m pretty much alread against it.
Where are the tea partyers when you need them