Post by Mech on Apr 16, 2004 13:12:08 GMT -5
YOUR CARS BLACK BOX MAY TURN YOU INTO A CRIMINAL
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Car's 'black box' convicts Montreal driver
CBC
Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:48:25
MONTREAL - Quebec police won a dangerous-driving conviction Friday using evidence from the "black box" in the car, a first in the province.
The black box or event data recorder (EDR), which automatically records a car's speed and other information, showed Eric Gauthier was driving at least 131 km/h when he hit another car in downtown Montreal in April of 2001.
Yacine Zinet, 19, was killed in the crash.
There were no witnesses, but police used the black box in 20-year-old Gauthier's car to determine his speed and build a case against him.
He was convicted of dangerous driving, but cleared of a more serious charge of criminal negligence causing death.
Zinet's sister, Belinda Matthey, was unhappy with the outcome.
"It was possible to see the car, there was no obstruction of any buildings, so it's more than dangerous driving," she said.
But she's glad that the case has established the credibility of black-box evidence.
The EDR was built to determine why a car's air bag activated, but can now be used to reconstruct what happens in the seconds before an accident.
***
Car's 'black box' convicts Montreal driver
CBC
Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:48:25
MONTREAL - Quebec police won a dangerous-driving conviction Friday using evidence from the "black box" in the car, a first in the province.
The black box or event data recorder (EDR), which automatically records a car's speed and other information, showed Eric Gauthier was driving at least 131 km/h when he hit another car in downtown Montreal in April of 2001.
Yacine Zinet, 19, was killed in the crash.
There were no witnesses, but police used the black box in 20-year-old Gauthier's car to determine his speed and build a case against him.
He was convicted of dangerous driving, but cleared of a more serious charge of criminal negligence causing death.
Zinet's sister, Belinda Matthey, was unhappy with the outcome.
"It was possible to see the car, there was no obstruction of any buildings, so it's more than dangerous driving," she said.
But she's glad that the case has established the credibility of black-box evidence.
The EDR was built to determine why a car's air bag activated, but can now be used to reconstruct what happens in the seconds before an accident.