If all cars were fitted with a black box (OK I know in planes they are orange, and they would have to be totally tamper-proof) that recorded ALL your driving characteristics, like how many times you exceeded the speed limit, rate of acceleration and so on, then Insurance companys would be able to base your premium on your actual history.

Hopefully this would penalise bad drivers financially and reward good drivers accordingly.
-- Alcin, Sep 20 2000

Drive Data Recorders http://www.halfbake..._20Data_20Recorders
My thought was that it would be used only in accident reconstruction, like a flight data recorder. [centauri, Sep 20 2000, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Truckin' http://www.wired.co...l?topic=&topic_set=
Big Brother watches the Big Rigs [confusionary, Sep 20 2000, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Being baked? http://news6.thdo.b...5F861000/861240.stm
Vehicle movements tracked, risk assessed, premium altered accordingly. Kinda creepy. [Skinny Rob, Sep 20 2000, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Methinks that the people being rewarded in that case would be the insurance companies. And would they be the only ones who could view the recording? My DDR idea would, ideally, contain only the essentials for crime-solving and litigation.
-- centauri, Sep 20 2000


Baked, but for semis instead of regular cars (see the link to the Wired article). I bet it's not far off, though, with things like OnStar (I think that's what it's called) that already track where you are and if your airbags have gone off and other stuff.
-- confusionary, Sep 21 2000


Thanks for the links guys, especially Skinny Rob's. There has to be a name for always getting ideas that are already being worked on...20-20 hindsight?
-- Alcin, Sep 21 2000


Not necessarily. It has been theorized that there is a time for everything...When it was 'railroad time' the locomotive steam engine was invented seperately in several places at once. Same when it was 'car time'.
-- StarChaser, Sep 22 2000


The day I let them put some tracking device in my car is the same day they can go to hell
-- AfroAssault, Nov 19 2000


Safety and speed are not that strongly related. Use this to measure centripetal acceleration and pannic braking moves. But you would need to take account of road conditions.... Gatsos are bad enough thanks.
-- Gimp, Feb 02 2001


A "semi" related idea. Instead of renewing drivers license every three or so years, renew yearly and fee for renewal is according to your driving record. Insurance for PD&L is INCLUDED in your license. IF you have license, you have insurance for legally required amounts. No one is unfairly gouged since amounts are based on past driving record. The only problem I can see with this is NEW drivers. How do you rate a new driver with no past record? Drivers education does count for a lot, speaking as a professionally trained driver. 47 years and no accident, driving everything on wheels. Black box is bad idea. Cars are expensive enough and the black box will not know who is driving at any given time. The Highway Patrol usually has a way of finding out... Oh yes. Important point for "Medi-Car" program. State pools extra fee money and insures drivers from that - private insurance companies no longer get to gouge at will with the blessing of the state. In a sense, all drivers will insure each other for legally required amounts! Whatcha think? jbodden@saber.net
-- jbodden, Mar 08 2002


make this contextual insurance and you get a bun from me. I think you're almost there, but if you wrap this up with pay-as-you-go insurance, then you could have a display on the dash with insurance cents/hour, based on erratic/panic reactions.
-- neilp, Jul 10 2003


The US National Transportation Safety Board is now recommending that all cars be fitted with black boxes as you suggest. See the link I added within "Drive Data Recorders."
-- krelnik, Aug 04 2004



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