Car tracker – black boxes. Why not?

I recently installed an app called Autoguard on my phone. When it’s fitted onto my dash it records a video of my journey along with speed and location. It was really just an experiment to see how well it worked. However, it got me to thinking – why aren’t all vehicles be fitted with a similar device from new. A forward facing and a rear facing camera, enough memory to record 60 minutes or so of a journey, a GPS to record speed and position, a motion sensor to detect any sudden loss of motion and to save the last video segment somewhere “safe” for future retrieval. It could be of enormous assistance in any accident inquiries, such as showing how road design cold help reduce further accidents or determing fault. It would cost peanuts if manufactured and fitted when the car was being built too.

Can it calculate VED as a pence per mile too, and issue speeding penalties on the spot please!?

I have thought these should exist for some time now.

Makes total sense but will be unlikely to happen as people remain convinced they should be ‘free’ and not monitored by authorities.

onion: http://www.confused.com/gooddrivers

Oh – I can see another whole level of monitoring being available of they were also fitted a means of uploading data to some central location but I’m not going anywhere near suggesting that.

I’ve been wandering this for a while now, and can’t for the life of me think why car companies are so reluctant to push boundaries in this area.

It’s more than likely they’re all afraid of setting off the control freak alarm bells and losing sales because of it.

It would cost peanuts if manufactured and fitted when the car was being built too.

easy cowboy – don’t go inferring that integrating a few pence worth of commonly available technology into a car is ‘easy’. Easy doesn’t comply with the notion of optional extras , upselling and special editions. The car industry is still milking a 10 year roll out of the inclusion of 3.5mm jackplugs.

Really want a camera on the driver with the video remotely uploaded to catch all the chatting on phone, doing the cross word in traffic jams, eating lunch etc….

new drivers can have a similar device fitted to reduce their premiums. Me, there’s no bloody way i’d have such thing in my car thanks.

I’ve been wandering this for a while now, and can’t for the life of me think why car companies are so reluctant to push boundaries in this area.

Because they sell you an image of open highways, good looking girls fawning over you as you speed off into the horizon, free of other road users.

This technology shatters this dream.

Why not though?

Druidh, tell us more about this app

Personally I don’t see the problem with camera’s fitted to cars. So long as they are used for evidence purposed and not for remote monitoring

It’s just the first one I found, so there might be better available. Like I said, it was really just curiosity.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hovans.autoguard&hl=en

I’m just running the free version at the moment,

Autoguard is the one I use at the mo. Was tempted to get a “proper” in-car recorder but can’t see the benefit of spending £150+ over this free app and a £6 eBay windscreen mount for the phone.

Great at what it does, and I’m hoping it’ll be invaluable in sorting out insurance when one of the local idiots that seem hell-bent on goading me into a street race finally overdoes it and causes a smash. Seems that pretty much every car in Asia and Russia has one going by the number of YouTube videos, and I can’t see why we don’t do the same over here. It’s certainly more acceptable to me to have one of these sat on the dashboard, rather than an insurance/government blackbox recording my every move.

why would YOU want to provide evidence of YOUR possible law breaking or liability for an accident? Only people who believe they will never cause an accident would volunteer for such a thing. So either it needs to result in some financial benefit (e.g. insurance discount) or regulatory requirement.

I would if it knocked a significant chunk off my insurance. If it was used properly it would significantly improve road safety, traffic flow and remove the most dangerous drivers from the road. The reality is the government doesn’t have the balls and the public wouldn’t stomach the immediate cost wihtout something in return and the majority of people are more than happy to continue driving as they currently do, getting away with it, after all it’s not them causing the accidents, it’s all the bad drivers. Look at the rubbish spouted over speed cameras being tax machines. Whilst drivers continue to portray this sort of attitude nothing will change without massive government intervention.

I would include myself in this group of people in denial about their driving skills anlong with most other road users, then again when was the last time any of us had a proffessional instructor critique our driving in a real world situation, for me 1988 when I passed my test.

But everyone on here is the best driver in the world and it’s always someone else’s fault. 🙄

I’d be willing to bet that compulsory tachometers made the trucking industry very considerably safer.

Why not though?

because im the first to admit i don’t drive to the letter of the law.

I’d be willing to bet that compulsory tachometers made the trucking industry very considerably safer

would be interesting to see what the stats are actually – mind you tachos have been around for quite along time so the comparison now would be with a time when road conditions and trucks were very different.

Curious as to how strictly tachos are policed these days in terms of speed rather than working hours. I fairly commonly encounter trucks on the motorway that are travelling faster than the should for extended distances, but on A roads/single carriageways apart from the A9 trucks pretty much universally travel at 50% over the national speed limit (for trucks)

I’d have a black box, but last time I checked they are only on offer for people who do low mileages. If that changes I’ll have one.

Classic for me on the A9 is trundling aling at 50mph in the van and being flashed by following HGVs for not going fast enough!

I’m not convinced by all this technology, I understand that it is a progeression, but a progression of what, All i can see is people making money out of poorer people.

If people want them then fine, but for me it would just be another extra thing to go wrong. but I’m still in the dark ages with phones,laptops and all this jargon.

what will it cost to use the said footage as most of the time for you to get video footage it costs unless its a criminal matter.

All i can see is people making money out of poorer people.

Well it’s not making money, it saves you money. The insurance company offers you much lower premiums – that’s the whole point.

The video would be recorded on a device in the car. The memory card would be removed, put into a computer and the video played. It would take 10 minutes and would cost less than closing the road while the accident investigators take measurements etc. Improvements to road safety would also be possible based on the video evidence. What cost do you put on human life?

i got stopped on the M1 for a random tacho check, before he put my card into his machine the vosa inspector asked me if he was going to find anything on there, i replied ‘no. but there might be a few overspeeds’ (tacho records anything over 100kmh as overspeed, even though the legal limit for a coach on a motorway is 70mph)
his reply? ‘we’re not interested in overspeeds, just infringements on driving hours’
my personal opinion on trucks/buses speeding is that it aint too clever, because if you have any type of accident there is a digital record of your speed at the time.

Well it’s not making money, it saves you money. The insurance company offers you much lower premiums – that’s the whole point.

Not necessarily so.
If the monitoring shows that you’re not the good driver you think you are, then your premiums will go up up up. They’ll know your speeds, locations, times you travel, all of which may lead them to conclude after a few months that you are a high-risk driver.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/lorry-drivers-set-to-launch-go-slow-protest-over-speed-hgv-speed-restrictions-1-2672281

HUNDREDS of lorry drivers are set to cause a week of disruption on Scottish roads by sticking strictly to 40mph – in a bid to force the Government to increase the speed limit for HGVs.

A week-long campaign seeking a change in the law to enable trucks to drive at 50mph was launched in Inverness today.

Driver Conor McKenna, 28, who is spearheading the protest, said lorries over 7.5 tonnes having to drive 20mph slower than cars on A-class roads was leading to dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.

He said: ““Cars overtake at ridiculous angles. It’s all day every day, and the A9 is horrendous. It means we’re always nervous when we’re driving.”

The “40mph week” will see lorry drivers insist on driving strictly at required speed limits.

Mr McKenna said this causes hold-ups and, as a result, lorry drivers often break the limit to keep traffic flowing.

He added: “We want to make the public aware we’re breaking the law on a regular basis to keep traffic moving.

“I’ve had six points on my licence in the past few months because I’ve been driving above the speed limit because of the tailback behind me.”

Up to 1,500 drivers from all over Britain has committed an interest.

@druidh,
are these guys for real?

Will it be time and date stamped with accurate and reliable calibration to speed, And who will control, will it be linked to the car’s ECU, so if i change my clock it changes. or will this be set from purchase, asifit is possible to change it could be flaud as evidance.

If it does workout as free then great, but CCTV in car parks is ment to be there for safety but when needed in a civil matter can not always be accessed.

And as for the price of a human life, there isn’t one in my eyes, but why should i fork out for one when i know i Drive safely and with in the rules

GaryLake – Member
Can it calculate VED as a pence per mile too

So a tax on living in the countryside then

I don’t break the law but I don’t mind paying for a police force to uphold it as I believe that makes me safer.

By the way i’m not against the idea, i’m just not sold on the idea.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/3009102

GaryLake – Member
Can it calculate VED as a pence per mile too

So a tax on living in the countryside then

As opposed to the current situation where a life style choice of living in a rural area is being subsidised by those living in urban areas?

( 😉 )

If the monitoring shows that you’re not the good driver you think you are, then your premiums will go up up up. They’ll know your speeds, locations, times you travel, all of which may lead them to conclude after a few months that you are a high-risk driver.

Seems like a perfect solution. Set premiums based on your own actual behaviour (rather than your age/job which is terribly unfair) and prove who was at fault in the event. Great.

Been using something similar for a year now to mitigate the crippling cost of insuring my teenage sons:

http://www.co-operativeinsurance.co.uk/servlet/Satellite/1286521010203,CFSweb/Page/Insurance-Car

Three benefits really: 1.) lower cost insurance 2.) improved mpg 3.) kids who drive responsibly.

As for cameras – far too many of these already, not in favour of.

@druidh,
are these guys for real?

very probably – if hgvs were driving within the law then on any single carriageway they wouldn’t be driving much faster than a tractor, which means pretty much all the traffic would be driving at that speed too.

To the wider public the concept that truck speeds should be increased is unattractive but the reality for all road uses if those limits were adhered too would be just as unattractive. Its a novel protest to threaten to obey the law.

The problem truck drivers face is if they drive at the legal limit the ensuing tail back leads to countless suicide overtaking manoeuvres – those moves aren’t the trucker’s fault but they are their problem, they are always going to be first at the scene of the accident.

Dash mounted cameras are becoming common on trucks and buses.
Sounds like a good idea for cars too, along with tachographs, speed limiters, operator licencing (after proving to be of good repute and having adequate finances), daily walk round checks, maintenance records etc.

But do they actually save you money. Some googling indicated that you’re looking at approx 11% lower premium, but could go up 15% if you are ‘naughty’, which would seen to include meerly driving at night?