Car Black Box Data Can Be Used As Evidence, Court Says
By Peter Hall, The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
But the scene state troopers were left to investigate in the wee hours of
Safka's Dodge Caliber was airborne for nearly 150 feet after it vaulted a steel guardrail and smashed through a thicket of trees. The absence of tire tracks or other marks on the ground left troopers unable to say with certainty how fast the car had been going.
So state police turned to the electronics in Safka's car.
A black box behind the center console contained the information troopers needed to prove that Safka, 19 at the time, had been driving at more than 105 mph when he misjudged a curve, with fatal consequences.
After Safka's trial, his lawyer filed an appeal challenging prosecutors' use of the black box data.
In a 2-1 decision
Safka's conviction was upheld and he continues to serve 21/2 to six years for vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and other charges.
The decision in Safka's case is the first time a
At least four other states --
"It's powerful evidence, especially in the hands of a capable crash reconstructionist," said
"Mostly it bolsters the opinion of the accident reconstructionist," Martin said.
But the potential uses of black box data aren't limited to criminal prosecutions, and many privacy advocates say they're concerned about a lack of regulation on who is able to access the information and for what purposes.
The boxes, found in almost every car with air bags, can be accessed through the same computer jacks that mechanics use to diagnose problems. Some newer cars send data back to manufacturers over wireless connections that could be vulnerable to hacking.
The debate has intensified as the
"The event data recorder data is only a taste of what's to come," cautioned
The right to control your car's data will become even more important, Cardozo said, as manufacturers debut more sophisticated systems that store and wirelessly transmit data about GPS searches, locations and even text messages dictated through the car's voice recognition system.
"They know where you've been over the course of the last several months or years. That is extraordinarily sensitive," Cardozo said.
In
For
"Everybody wants to plug into that thing for some reason," he said. "It's time that the consumers know there are serious problems here."
Kowalick, a
As chairman of the
Even in cars that have no capability to transmit data wirelessly, the black box can be accessed via the standard on-board diagnostic connector that mechanics use to read error codes from the car's computers. That leaves the data vulnerable to tampering and unreliable as evidence, he said.
"You should have the choice of determining who is going in there. Right now it's not your choice," Kowalick said.
Event data recorders were first installed in production vehicles by
The primary purpose of the devices is to sense the vehicle's speed and deploy air bags in a crash. The data recorders constantly monitor parameters that generally include speed, braking, throttle position, whether seat belts are being used and whether the air bag system is functioning correctly.
If the air bags deploy, the device stops recording and preserves the data from the seconds before the crash. That information has proved useful in determining why crashes happen and how people are injured in them.
But because automobile manufacturers developed the technology independently and implemented it over the course of a decade or more, there is no single standard to which they must adhere.
In late 2012, the NHTSA proposed a rule that would require carmakers to put event data recorders in all vehicles. It also specifies a range of 15 required and 28 optional data elements the recorders should capture for at least five seconds before a crash.
While organizations including the
The proposal sets a minimum number of parameters and minimum time frame that the devices must record, but does nothing to limit how much and what kinds of information they store. NHTSA should specifically say that audio, video and location data cannot be recorded, the foundation says.
"Ownership matters because if you own the data, you control what happens to it and who has access to it," Barnes said.
While privacy advocates say the data should be released to law enforcement after a court issues a search warrant, the requirement to share black box data under other circumstances, such as in a civil lawsuit or with an insurance company, is less clear.
They also envision scenarios in which data could be downloaded without a car owner's consent and sold for marketing or advertising purposes.
At least 14 states have passed laws that specify that black box data may only be accessed with the owner's consent, with exceptions for emergencies, criminal investigations, civil lawsuits, repairs and vehicle safety research. Four states bar insurers from refusing coverage if owners decline to share black box data.
In
A bill barring unauthorized access to the data was approved by the
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