'Black box' data allowed at fatal wreck hearing

Drivers in crashes may have to deal with an unlikely witness that can accurately account for their speed, when or if they hit the brakes and whether they were wearing a seat belt.

Automotive "black boxes" are unlocking the secrets inside the final five seconds before a big impact for those driving American cars made after 1997. The prosecution of a recent Cape Girardeau County case, in which a man faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter and assault, hinges in part on such a device's recorded data.

The sensing diagnostic module, or SDM, in Scott Lynn Bragg's 1999 Pontiac Firebird was originally designed to decide when to deploy his air bags, but it also recorded the car's driving data when it crashed Aug. 13 on Big Bend Road.

By preserving the last five seconds, the SDM, also called an event data recorder, gives law enforcement another "gotcha" tool against speeders who have accidents. Crash experts say the data accurately complements the results of skid mark measurements police use to determine crash speeds.

And that is what Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle is counting on to prove that Bragg, 32, of Patton, Mo., was driving more than 100 mph when he crashed his car, killing passengers Carl S. Ford and Tracie D. Ford and seriously injuring Carla Jo McNelly.

On Friday afternoon, Swingle argued the scientific merit of the device before Circuit Judge William Syler in the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. Swingle said he believes this is the first time such data has been entered as evidence in a Missouri case.

Met court requirements

Several family members of the victims were present at the hearing, as were supporters for Bragg. Defense attorney Stephen Wilson of Cape Girardeau did not object to the device, and Syler accepted it into evidence after determining it met court requirements for being a device generally accepted by the scientific community. After the hearing, Wilson declined to comment on the case.

The state's expert witness, W.R. "Rusty" Haight of San Diego, Calif., knows something about crashes -- he's been in 724, a Guinness World Record for the most car crash tests.

As a traffic safety researcher and collision reconstructionist, Haight is one of the country's top experts in automotive crash investigations, with two decades of experience and having authored more than 25 technical papers on the subject.

He testified about the evolution and reliability of event data recorders and how the information is interpreted. The devices are 95 percent reliable in measuring changing speeds in a car within a few miles per hour, he said.

"Across the hundreds of tests I have done, this type of technology has done exactly what was expected," he said.

By the late 1960s, flight data recorders were placed in all planes. General Motors began installing early-model data recorders in the first of its cars to have driver-side air bags in 1972. By the late 1990s, all new cars sold in the United States were required to have air bags.

"The idea we can use a computer in a car goes back at least 20 years," Haight said.

'There will be more'

In 1997, the National Transportation Safety Board directed auto manufacturers and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to develop a plan on how to best use event data recorders. The hardware used to extract the information from GM and Ford cars has been available to law enforcement for three years.

"It's new to the courts, but it's not new technology," Haight said. "The first litigated cases were in 2001. There will be more."

For Haight, his job is about learning how to prevent crashes and injuries through scientific experiments.

"It's all about planning," he said. "If you can do tests to find how they happen and how people get hurt in them, then it stands to reason we can create a crash where those things won't happen."

The recorders contribute directly to road safety in two areas, he said. The overall collision is better understood with the use of the data, and when motorists are aware the devices are installed, they tend to drive more safely.

Now that the six pages of data from Bragg's car has been accepted into evidence, Haight does not believe he will be called back to testify at a trial, he said.

"It would not be cost-effective to bring me back, as opposed to having the local officers testify," he said.

'Stakes are very high'

But at least for Friday's hearing, Haight's expertise was worth his fee of $150 per hour, Swingle said.

"In proving the negligence in a manslaughter case, the stakes are very high," he said. "But there were two people killed and a third injured, and we wanted to make sure that every effort was made to get each angle covered in bringing this to trial."

This was not the first time Swingle has been prepared to use this kind of evidence, he said. Another manslaughter case in which he wanted to use the SDM in trial ended in a guilty plea this year.

But if Braggs' case goes to trial, the merit of the device will be established in Missouri court record and its use will be seen in many more criminal and civil cases, Swingle said.

"There will be a lot more questions answered, where in the past there was a swearing match in court," he said. "This could also cut down on perjury once people learn that they're driving a car that records such information."

Bragg's next court appearance will be June 2, when a trial date is expected to be scheduled.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160