Found Deceased 4 young males, Jevon Hurst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett, Hugo Morris, traveling in a silver Ford Fiesta,Harlech/Porthmadog,North Wales,19 Nov 2023

[suzyjackson]

I have some questions about that black box. I'm not familiar with them myself, but how does the insurance co. receive the data - is the box meant to report back if it thinks there's an incident, or does it just send data at regular intervals, or do the insurance co. need to physically hook it up to a reader?

This will tell you the basics, the specifics of how the data is reported back to the insurer will depend on the specifics of the telematics but there's no physical hook up needed

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/how-does-black-box-insurance-work/

 

[MollyHarps]

Mother of teen in crashed car says she is 'in a nightmare'

Crystal Owen, Harvey's mother, said 'nothing will make this nightmare go away,' after her son never came home from his camping trip.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A mother had paid tribute to her boy.

Beware before reading this tribute is very emotional as expected. Cannot begin to comprehend what these poor parents are going through.

Further down in this article there’s a picture with the caption ‘scene where car left the road’ - it does look more like the car probably ended up in the ditch at the side of the road (probably quite far into the ditch and covered by those trees) rather than the river which is adjacent to part of the road.

 

[Mirabel091]

This will tell you the basics, the specifics of how the data is reported back to the insurer will depend on the specifics of the telematics but there's no physical hook up needed

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/how-does-black-box-insurance-work/

Thank you.

"Another benefit of a telematics car insurance policy is that it will usually come with an anti-theft tracker. This is one way the police can track your car if it is stolen. There are usually impact alerts recorded if you are in an accident too."

 

[Skigh]

Would the car being in the water have affected how well the tracker worked?

 

[katydid23]

With that tracker/black box, I wonder why it took so long to find the car? Wasn't it found by a tip sent in by a neighbour?

 

[suzyjackson]

With that tracker/black box, I wonder why it took so long to find the car? Wasn't it found by a tip sent in by a neighbour?

I wonder if a lack of phone service means that the data isn't transmitted back until a car gets back to and area where there is service so if there was a black box they would have the same last known phone location as the mobiles and maybe a direction of travel only

 

[MollyHarps]

With that tracker/black box, I wonder why it took so long to find the car? Wasn't it found by a tip sent in by a neighbour?

The car was found by a passing lorry driver on Tuesday morning

Search under way in north Wales for four missing teenagers - BBC News

Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson and Hugo Morris have been missing since Sunday morning.

www.bbc.co.uk

The road has also been closed again just now - I wonder if this is to allow the families to visit the scene in private?

 

[Normal Norm]

With that tracker/black box, I wonder why it took so long to find the car?

Edited by me for relevance.

I posted an answer to this question yesterday. Unfortunately, my post was based on a comment I had seen on social media, and it was removed as it contravened the WS rules.

I don't know whether or not the black box in this case had an impact alert system. Even if it did, the nature of what happened may not have flagged up as an "impact". There is also the question posed by @Skigh about the effect of water on the tracker system.

 

[Skigh]

Edited by me for relevance.

I posted an answer to this question yesterday. Unfortunately, my post was based on a comment I had seen on social media, and it was removed as it contravened the WS rules.

Could you write your own theory based on information you have gathered?

 

[Normal Norm]

Could you write your own theory based on information you have gathered?

Good idea. The boys were last seen on a Sunday. It occurred to me that if the black box was being used solely for insurance purposes (as opposed to impact alert purposes), then perhaps it was impossible for the police to contact the insurers until the Monday morning when they opened for business.

 

[Skigh]

Good idea. The boys were last seen on a Sunday. It occurred to me that if the black box was being used solely for insurance purposes (as opposed to impact alert purposes), then perhaps it was impossible for the police to contact the insurers until the Monday morning when they opened for business.

Due to people having accidents at anytime,night or day ,I had presumed insurance companies are also able to be contacted around the clock.

 

[x44]

In this article/image police are shown looking into a ditch

Snowdonia: Teenager found dead alongside three friends dreamt of opening bakery like his mother

A 17-year-old boy who died with his friends on a camping trip to Snowdonia dreamt of becoming a baker like his mother.

www.telegraph.co.uk

NB this is a 'live' article so the contents may change

'IF' indeed this is the location of the crash then below is the google street view of that location

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[arrogantcat]

Mother of teen in crashed car says she is 'in a nightmare'

Crystal Owen, Harvey's mother, said 'nothing will make this nightmare go away,' after her son never came home from his camping trip.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A mother had paid tribute to her boy.

Beware before reading this tribute is very emotional as expected. Cannot begin to comprehend what these poor parents are going through.

Further down in this article there’s a picture with the caption ‘scene where car left the road’ - it does look more like the car probably ended up in the ditch at the side of the road (probably quite far into the ditch and covered by those trees) rather than the river which is adjacent to part of the road.

I think you’re right. It’s somehow slightly comforting to me to think they were killed by the impact and not by the car flooding with water. I really hope it was quick and painless for all of these poor young men.

Here are the pictures of ditches near the craft site from the DM link. I notice they often repurpose articles with later updates and photos, so I thought I’d preserve them here for anyone reading this later.

The first picture, in the dark, is the one captioned as being “the scene where they left the road”.

 

[arrogantcat]

In this article/image police are shown looking into a ditch

Snowdonia: Teenager found dead alongside three friends dreamt of opening bakery like his mother

A 17-year-old boy who died with his friends on a camping trip to Snowdonia dreamt of becoming a baker like his mother.

www.telegraph.co.uk

NB this is a 'live' article so the contents may change

'IF' indeed this is the location of the crash then below is the google street view of that location

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

maps.app.goo.gl

The road visibly bumps up there. Admittedly I don’t really understand the physics of car accidents very well. Would that account for the car rolling, in any way?

 

[arrogantcat]

Due to people having accidents at anytime,night or day ,I had presumed insurance companies are also able to be contacted around the clock.

For logging claims, yes. For speaking to somebody high up enough to respond to a request by law enforcement to track a customer based on their private data, probably not. It’s unlikely to be a service the customer service reps can even access. Imagine the implications if somebody working an easy-access job in a call centre could track and trace thousands of ppl in real time!

 

[arrogantcat]

I wonder if a lack of phone service means that the data isn't transmitted back until a car gets back to and area where there is service so if there was a black box they would have the same last known phone location as the mobiles and maybe a direction of travel only

I think this is almost definitely the case. None of the boys had signal, it seems, in the area of the accident. It makes sense that the black box would also be out of transmission range at that location.
It may also simply send its information every ten minutes or so.

 

[heartandsoul]

The road visibly bumps up there. Admittedly I don’t really understand the physics of car accidents very well. Would that account for the car rolling, in any way?

Also definitely not an expert, but I was involved with an accident several years ago where a car travelling no more than 30mph (probably more 20-25) clipped a small curb and instantly flipped across to the other side of the road and onto its roof. It absolutely terrified me to witness, thankfully everyone in that accident survived.

It takes surprisingly little to flip a car IME.

 

[Normal Norm]

With the amount of rain there has been lately, it would not surprise me if there was a lot of standing water on the road and / or run-off from the higher, saturated terrain on one side of the road. You don't have to be going fast to aquaplane.

 

[x44]

As per another poster mentioned there is a slight hump in the road prior so if they were hammering along at high speed in a fully laden Ford Fiesta being a small car with lots of camping gear in the boot it could well have destabilised them enough added to standing water on the road to make them loose it on the corner.
....and that's before we consider distractions in the car from the other occupants, driver inexperience, weather etc.

 

[Lyanna]

I'r teuloedd o Jevon, Wilf, Hugo a Harvey,

Pan gollwn ni'r rhai rydyn ni'n caru fwyaf, maen nhw am byth yn ein hatgofion. Daliwch gafael ar yr atgofion hynny, nhw ein trysorau mwyaf.
Cariad Mawr
Lyanna xx