Policing by black box, or a good idea?

[Talk Wrench]

Read this article from today's Wail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/ca...ued-crash-gadget-meant-cut-car-insurance.html

No doubt this device has been used in this instance by the insurance company and a life has been saved. Somehow, though, articles like this are designed to mush people up for the inevetible rollout to every vehicle in the EU.

My opinion is that it will be a cash cow easy policing device for the DVLA, plus a get out of paying card for the insurers in case of accident. Oh and it will be used to track your every movement by some government agency somewhere.

But, if it saves just one life, it has to be worth it right?

 

[busby1971]

My wife's French car already has a sos button that links to her phone in case of emergency so I'm sure the hardware is already installed ready for this to be automated.

I think the new rules are on the EU books so it's only a matter of time before it becomes compulsory. Surprised the Mail has been duped into running a pro EU press release.

 

[Mag2grid]

No issue with this at all, you drive as per the Road Traffic Act then what's the problem?

I have such a device and also a dash cam fitted to my car. It has got me out of a tricky situation involving a cash for crash gang who tries to con my insurers, that and I called the police who seized the footage and prosecuted the driver of the other vehicle.

 

[Gonterseed]

The chances are that if you have a smart-phone which uses Android as the O/S then you are already being "monitored".

For example if you use Google maps to find driving directions, they will use crowd sourcing to gather mobility data on the route so that it can give you the fastest A to B time. In other words, unless you've switched off the "where am I" function then it is gathered by Google.

Some companies already use this service to co-ordinate taxi's, service engineers and delivery vans. Others use it to provide apps to track you kids, find your lost phone and so on. Emergency services have it on their list of things to progress to for other purposes.

When you dial 999 (or 112 service) then you automatically give up your right to telephone anonymity - your number is always given whether it's withheld or not. This means they can locate you almost exactly from a domestic landline and roughly where you are from a mobile. There is a new service (just introduced) which is based on the emergency services system sending a message to your phone (when you dial 999/112) and if you have one of the latest smart-phones, it will respond with your GPS location, meaning that under most circumstances they will know where you are to a few yards.