A ruling in the criminal case involving a 21-year-old Pennsylvania man who was behind the wheel during a 2010 car accident has been delayed while the judge allows more evidence to come in regarding the vehicle's data recorder. Three people aged 20 or younger were killed in the crash, and the data recorder shows the car was going 106 miles per hour prior to the crash.

The judge pushed back proceedings because there is no precedent in the state of Pennsylvania for using a car's data recorder as evidence in a car accident case. "I can find no Pennsylvania case law which permits this use, which in and of itself does not make it inadmissible. There is no precedent for introducing this into evidence," the judge said.

Car recorders collect data regarding engine activity and vehicle speed during a five-second window prior to the deployment of air bags. The 21-year-old's attorney says the car was airborne before the wreck, meaning that without any traction, the tires were spinning at an incredible rate. This, the defense argues, artificially inflated the recorder's speed reading.

However, it seems that five seconds of airtime is a very long period of time for a car to be airborne, which the vehicle in this story would have had to achieve in order for the data recorder's entire speed reading to be inaccurate.

When the case resumes on February 21 the judge's ruling will be heard with much anticipation, and it could greatly affect not just this case but many other car accident cases in the state.

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "Ruling delayed in fatal Parkway West wreck," Bobby Kerlik, Feb. 9, 2012