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View Full Version : LOOK!! What will they think of next..



mrfixxall
06-03-2011, 09:13 PM
This should shut down all the new car buying..

http://www.examiner.com/finance-examiner-in-national/new-car-purchases-starting-june-will-have-a-mandatory-black-box-installed

Eplebnista
06-03-2011, 09:52 PM
First, almost all new cars already have data recorders.

Second, most of the EDR's only record a very limited amount - like 30 seconds - of data

Third, the word on the internet is that the government is about to require all cars to have EDR's. That is not true. The government is about to propose such a rule and is asking for comments. If you are against it, read the proposal and file comments against it. You can do that over the web.

silverghost
06-03-2011, 10:04 PM
What would our nation's founding fathers think of government today ?

We no longer live in a "Free" country.

"Big Brother" is watching EVERYTHING .

This is just another excuse for more government control, along with new taxes, user fees, and unnecessary fines.
Government is like a giant snowball rolling down hill & out of control and getting bigger all the time; while rolling all over it's citizens.

Wait until the auto insurance companies get their hands on this black-box recorder data ?

Carl C
06-03-2011, 10:08 PM
Sucks. Wouldn't be able to run the Mustang up to 130 mph anymore.... :(

joel3078
06-07-2011, 07:34 AM
My brother has been an auto body guy for 25+ years. Those EDR black boxes have been in cars since the 80's. They were put in for recording last 15 seconds or so of events in case air bag did not go off. It was a manufacturer's cover their ass system.

Those same black box devices are now used by YOUR insurance claim rep to determine how you were driving right before YOUR accident. Also cops use em to prove data in case of human death, harm, etc. The black box is not new. How humans use the data is new. Welcome to forensics and lawyers.

zelatore
06-07-2011, 09:35 AM
No, the black box is not new. The technology behind it and the use of its data is what's new.

The boxes were originally used as mentioned above - to learn more about the events immediately prior to an accident and how the car acted during that accident.

But the boxes are getting 'smarter'. And states, towns, insurance companies, etc are getting greedier. Some insurance companies already have their own GPS based black boxes that they try to sell you as a 'discount'. Progressive for example offers a 'snapshot discount'. Basically, it's a black box that monitors your driving and reports back to the mothership so they can then decide to raise your rate even if you don't get a ticket. It's an optional program right now, but for how long?

Note that I used to have Progressive. I don't now.

Since the advent of the speed/red-light camera and the GPS this has been inevitable. Even long before those technologies came to be municipalities were looking at traffic tickets not as a safety measure but as a revenue source. When do you first recall hearing about a speed trap? In the 70s? I think the article did a good job of pointing all this out - they sell the general public based on 'safety' and we just go along like the good little sheeple we are.

You do realize most cameras aren't even operated by the city/state in which they are placed, right? No, instead the manufacturers of the cameras come to the local government and offer to place the cameras at various locations for free, and on top of that, they'll guarantee a certain amount of income per month for the government from the cameras! In exchange, the company gets a portion of the ticket revenue for themselves. Of course, they may need the city to adjust the posted speed limit or the timing of the yellow light - all in the name of safety, of course! All the city has to do is sit back and collect the check each month. Or at the most, in some jurisdictions they actually have a 'cop' (basically a secretary in the office) 'review the infraction' to give it a stamp of authority since only law enforcement can generate tickets. Yeah, right.

So yes, unless we get a LOT of people worked up about these back boxes being used this way, it's only a matter of time before we start getting tickets in the mail from Big Brother's little black box. Oh sure, they'll say it's for safety, but anybody with a pulse will know it's about revenue.

Damn it! Where's the driver's equivalent of the NRA when you need them?