What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - John Boy

A really interesting (to me at least) article in today's Guardian:

www.theguardian.com/money/2017/dec/16/motoring-myt...e

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - Bolt

Interesting yes, but I think they want to know too much about what we do,where we go and how we get there, untill the insurance companies say you must have one of these boxes then I will not have one.

too much of big brother around as it is (google for one)

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - oldroverboy.

I tried the AVIVA driving app

www.aviva.co.uk/car-insurance/drive/

and failed...

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - gordonbennet

How readily people agree to being monitored, already some people have had chips inserted into their bodies to please the companies they work for, for security door opening so far, only the tip of the iceberg, owners of governments must be thrilled.

Reassuring how many commenters in the paper are anti big brother, the propaganda bombardment isn't working out quite how big brother expected.

Edited by gordonbennet on 17/12/2017 at 08:10

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - argybargy

There are good intentions involved here, obviously. However, its the further opening of a door which will lead to us all being obliged to leave the house with a virtual minder, one which will report our actions to the appropriate authorities and thus ensure our behaviour is adjusted to suit the political agenda of the day.

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - daveyjp
Good to see the Grauniad upholding the fine tradition of not being able to spell.

“Slamming on the breaks”. Really?

I read about a young driver who had one of these boxes installed, but the insurance was cancelled after the company decided she drove eveywhere far too quickly.

What the system didn’t appreciate was she lived on a Scottish island and used one road most of the time getting to work from home and it was national speed limit. She never had the need to go much slower!
Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - alan1302

How readily people agree to being monitored, already some people have had chips inserted into their bodies to please the companies they work for, for security door opening so far, only the tip of the iceberg, owners of governments must be thrilled.

Where is this?

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - gordonbennet

Where is this?

It probably won't come as any surprise, but Sweden is one such place.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31042477

a search will find more cases in other countries

Edited by gordonbennet on 17/12/2017 at 20:10

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - alan1302

Thanks GB

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - Wackyracer

Where is this?

It probably won't come as any surprise, but Sweden is one such place.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31042477

a search will find more cases in other countries

I think I'll just stick with a swipe card.

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - nellyjak

I refuse to be monitored, spied upon, coerced or manipulated in any way...I am a FREE man.

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - FiestaOwner

I refuse to be monitored, spied upon, coerced or manipulated in any way...I am a FREE man.

Better not buy a second hand car then!

A lot of hire cars and fleet cars are fitted with black boxes. They aren't removed when the cars go to auction. There is also no indication inside the car that a black box is fitted.

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - piggy

I refuse to be monitored, spied upon, coerced or manipulated in any way...I am a FREE man.

It just goes to show how far ahead of it's time "The Prisoner" was.

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - P3t3r

They always seem to be targetting 'speed', although 'speed' and 'speeding' seem to be treated as the same thing. Is it really the speed that is increasing the number of accidents or the fact that risk takers are more likely to speed?

It also sounds like the person in charge of pricing isn't a particularly good or experienced driver too. He has said the following:

“When you are on a country road with a 60mph limit, you shouldn’t be doing anywhere near 60mph,”

In my opinion it is often safe to do more than 60mph, and I regularly do 60mph. When he said is true for many roads but certainly not all of them.

Interestingly, they seem to think that inexperienced drivers should use motorways more rather than rural roads as motorways are safer. Now, if this were to happen, then surely we'd have more accidents on motorways and less on rural roads? I think people are looking at statistics too much not not actually considering whether the drivers have the competence to join a motorway. Joining a motorway can be one of the most challenging things in my opinion as everybody else seems to be determined to get in front of you.

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - RT

The black box knows from GPS where you are - but how can it know what the physical road surface, weather or traffic conditions are? Under many circumstances they can reduce the safe speed to below the legal limit.

Black boxes - what they've revealed to insurers - Wackyracer

I've seen quite a few cases of where the black boxes have failed to report correctly and drivers have had their insurance cancelled because of it. 2 cases that stick in my mind are a young woman who supposedly braked too hard and was warned if she didn't correct it she would have the insurance cancelled. The other was a young woman who had her insurance cancelled for excessive speeding, the black box had reported that she was on a road parallel to the motorway she was driving on so it appeared she was doing 65mph in a 30mph zone.