More on "Black box" used in SD Representative's traffic accident investigation

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "Frank Bajak" <fbajak () ap org>
> To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
>
>
> Actually, we had this story in June. Your car may no longer be your friend.
>
> Frank Bajak / AP Tech Editor
>
> ----
>
>  'Black box' for cars a surprise
>
> By Matthew Fordahl
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>     No one disputes that Michelle Zimmermann lost control of her 2002 GMC
> Yukon as she drove on a two-lane highway in Massachusetts one snowy
> afternoon last January. Her friend died after the sport utility vehicle
> slammed into a tree.
>     Miss Zimmermann said she was driving within the posted 40 mph speed
> limit, but like millions of other Americans the 33-year-old didn't know that
> her vehicle had a "black box." Monitoring her driving, it recorded the last
> few seconds before the crash.
>     Bolstered by data they say indicates Miss Zimmermann was driving well
> above the speed limit, prosecutors have charged the Beverly, Mass., woman
> with negligent vehicular homicide. She has pleaded not guilty and faces up
> to 2½ years in jail if convicted.
>     An estimated 25 million automobiles in the United States now have event
> data recorders, a scaled-down version of the devices that monitor cockpit
> activity in airplanes. Like aviation recorders, automobile black boxes
> mainly receive attention after an accident.
>     The devices' primary function is to monitor various sensors and decide
> whether to fire air bags. Since the 1998 model year, all new cars from all
> manufacturers have been required to have air bags and so most such
> recent-model cars have the devices. But secondary and more recently
> installed features in many recorders store data from a few seconds before a
> crash.
>     Though capabilities vary widely among carmakers, most recorders store
> only limited information on speed, seat-belt use, physical forces, brakes
> and other factors. Voices are not recorded.
>     But the devices are finding its way into courtrooms as evidence in
> criminal and civil cases, leading some privacy advocates to question how the
> recorders came to be installed so widely with so little public notice or
> debate.
>
>     --- snip ---
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On Behalf Of
> Dave Farber
> Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 4:57 PM
> To: ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: [IP] "Black box" used in SD Representative's traffic accident
> investigation
>
>
> >Subject: "Black box" used in SD Representative's traffic accident
> >         investigation
> >From: Scott Alexander <salex () dsl cis upenn edu>
> >To: farber () cis upenn edu
> >
> >
> >Perhaps I've just missed it, but this is the first time I've seen
> >explicit mention of the "black box" from a car being used in an
> >accident investigation.  When these first appeared, I recall the
> >privacy warnings that this would happen, and clearly those warnings were
> correct.
> >
> >http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Central/08/19/janklow.accident.ap/index.html
> >
> >'Talbot said Janklow's 1995 Cadillac has a black box, which records
> >information such as how fast the car was going and whether the brakes
> >were applied.'
> >
> >'"We've recovered that and that's going to be analyzed to see if any
> >information can be derived from that," Talbot said.'
> >
> >Scott
> >--
> >Scott Alexander <salex () dsl cis upenn edu>
>
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