"Black Box" Data Evidence and Courtroom Admissibility
The July, 2011 edition of the Advocate has a useful article titled “Electronic Crash Data in Cars: Technical and Legal Perspectives“. The authors (Arthur Ross and Jonathan Lawrence) take time to discuss the increasing availability of Event Data Recorder (“EDR”) information following motor vehicle collisions and the legal hurdles this data can pose when being introduced in evidence.
I recommend that anyone interested in this topic review the article in full. In short, the authors conclude that “We suggest that the approach taken in Gratton more appropriately reflects the correct judicial approach when a court is asked to admit and then weight any EDR evidence and any opinion derived from it. There is no legislation in Canada specifically governing the admission into evidence of EDR data. The federal and provincial Evidence Acts should be amended to permit the admission of the evidence either as a “business record” or on a basis similar to blood-alcohol test devices“.
The authors reference the following useful authorities:
R v. Berner
R v. Cianchino
R v. Gill
R v. Moxam
R v. Brander
R v. Lanza
R v. Gratton