Report: NHTSA (USA) expected to mandate black boxes in all cars next month

[Camo]

Are you ready for a black box to be installed in your car? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration apparently is. According to a new report from Wired, NHTSA is expected to rule next month that all new cars will need to carry just such a device.

Now, before you get all "Screw the Gubment!" you should know that many modern cars already have black box systems installed – you might have one and not even know it. General Motors, for instance, has been installed the electronic data recorders since the 1990s, on almost all vehicles fitted with airbags.

The concern for most drivers, however, lies with what type of information is captured, and who has access to it. Also, different automakers use different Electronic Data Recorder devices. A black box standard needs to be developed, which would allow for the data retrieved from an EDR to be consistent regardless of the vehicle make it's pulled from.

Some view this mandate as an invasion of motorists' privacy. However, the data recovered from the black box systems can provide crucial insight into crash dynamics. Exactly who's allowed to view that information varies by state, of course, and only 13 states currently have legislation in place regulating the release of EDR data.

It will happen here in Australia too you can bet on it. So what do you think, is this a good idea, or a bad one?

[Source: Wired]

[bfit]

Technology good or bad
technology  is available to stop people using mobile phones in a car
yet allow the use of an  integrated phone.
 
 I wonder why here in Australia   the government don't push  for that
could It be the revenue mobile  phone use in cars  it generates.

And then if a navman can know when you change speed zones
Why cant that technology  be interrelated in the a car computer to limit speed
With in  10k of the limit
The government can still get revenue and the real hard core speedsters on the road will be forced to slow down

But not so if you drive an early model ( not a computer controlled vehicle )

drunk drivers there's  programs to control that too
where does it stop
And self control take over

Bfit