No.297 SIM音読用英文

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
'Black Boxes' Aren't Just for Airplanes Any More
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

More than two-thirds of the new cars -

foreign and domestic -

sold in the United States this year

will be equipped with so-called black boxes.


In fact, about a third of all the vehicles

on the American road today

have such devices.


These are not like the airliner black boxes

that record long periods of audio

from the cockpit

and streams of data

about the performance

of the plane's technical systems.


Famously and tragically,

those kinds of boxes,

when recovered from crash sites,

often provide important clues

to what might have brought the plane down.


Those black boxes actually aren't black but are bright orange,

to make them easier to find in wreckage.


In automobiles, they're not black, either.


In fact, they're not even boxes!


They're electronic components

built into newer cars' computer systems.


You cannot disable these sensors

by yanking a few wires.


They are built

so deeply into the guts of the onboard computer

that they're almost tamper-proof.


Automobile black boxes do not record voices

or sniff out whether drivers have been drinking.


In fact, they don't even turn on

unless and until there's a crash

so serious that the vehicle's air bags deploy.


But these sensors do record the car's speed,

starting about five seconds before a high-speed accident.


And they measure the degree

to which the driver applied the brakes,

and whether or not the driver and passengers had buckled their seat
belts.


Big auto companies and the National Highway Transportation Safety
Administration

gather black-box data

from these serious crashes

to improve auto safety systems.


Highway police and insurance companies

like to get hold of this information, too.


They can in some states and communities,

but are not allowed access in other places

without permission from the car's owner.


Some advocacy groups oppose

putting black boxes in cars.


They consider them

an invasion of owners' privacy.


But data sensors are showing up

in more and more vehicles each year,

whether people like it or not.


I'm Ted Landphair.