Cameras in commercial vehicles.

[Tobin S.]

Last edited Sat Apr 7, 2018, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)

I'm a trucker and the company I drive for is now installing cameras in all of their trucks. The cameras will monitor both the road and the driver. I imagine they are doing this for a couple of reasons. One being that they get a break on their insurance premium. The other to protect them in the event of accidents.

However, I can tell you that as a trucker for 21 years, these cameras are not a welcome addition in the cab for most drivers. Several of my co-workers are pretty angry about the cameras and some of them are looking for work elsewhere. It's not a good development for our company in an already tight labor market for trucking companies. Word gets around among drivers about these kinds of things as well, and I know many drivers will not drive for a company that has a camera pointed at them all day.

Last night was my fist night on the road with these cameras. It is an uneasy feeling having that camera there. It's hard to feel comfortable knowing that someone could be just sitting there at the other end of the line staring at you and watching your every move. I'll be able to adapt, but I'd rather the camera not be trained on me.

There is a silver lining- the camera trained on the road. Statistics show that a majority of truck crashes with passenger cars involving a fatality are the fault of the passenger car driver. That majority of fault will probably swell with the addition of cameras in commercial vehicles. The cameras will also help in the investigation of other accidents caught by them but not involving the specific truck. I can think of several accidents over the course of my career where that would have been the case had I a camera installed in my truck watching the road.

That camera is not going to lie. People will know exactly what happens now out on the road with truckers. Many drivers have put cameras in their trucks of their own volition for their own protection. You can probably find many of their videos on youtube. I think this is a trend in the industry that will someday soon become a mandatory addition to trucks through law. I saw a similar trend with the newly required electronic logging devices. The first company to adapt them did so voluntarily back in the late 90s. They have become required by law as of this past December in all commercial trucks manufactured after 1999. That's another unwelcome development for truckers, but that's the overall trend in the industry- increasing automation and constant monitoring.

Edited to add some appropriate tuneage. Judas Priest Hellion/Electric Eye

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Not trying to make lite of your situation...I would feel the same way...

sometimes a person wants to pick their nose without worrying that someone is watching. I would HATE what you are having to endure.

[Tobin S.]

3. That's the first thing my wife said, too.

She told me, "Now don't be picking your nose!" I told her that if they want to watch us all the time they are just going to have to deal with that kind of stuff.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. If you pick your nose, don't smear it on your shirt.

There's a lens in front of you that's perfect for smearing.

What happens if your camera gets bumped (accidentally, of course) and now gazes serenely at the roof liner? Do you get a phone call?

[Tobin S.]

11. Yes, if the camera is obstructed I will get a call.

But I like the way you think.

[tech3149]

2. Most of those Youtube in-car videos exist for a reason

Especially Russia and the Warsaw Pact states became victims of massive criminality after the fall of the Soviet Union. Drivers were vulnerable to engineered accidents to extort damages and the cameras were a means of protection.
As someone who spent my working life on the road and a very serious driver I welcome the concept. In fact I installed video cameras in my service van back in the late 90's. I've seen the serious degradation of the general driving public to take the task as seriously as they should. It could be the distractions or the reliance on all those things that make driving easier but if you don't recognize the risk of doing the job at hand and maintaining or expanding your abilities, bad things can happen.
I'm creeped out by the double edged sword of constant monitoring but I think I'd more likely be protected by it than held accountable.

[Tobin S.]

4. "I'm creeped out by the double edged sword of constant monitoring...

...but I think I'd more likely be protected by it than held accountable."

Well, I think commercial drivers are just going to have to get used to it if they want to continue to drive, even though, like I said, most of them recoil at the thought of cameras in the cab. Now that I think about it, it's not just the overall trend in trucking. It's everywhere and has become a cultural or societal thing. I'd feel better about it if it remained voluntary, but that's not going to happen.

[Phentex]

6. Here's what they'd catch me doing...

stop in driveway, apply chapstick...get to first four way stop, say out loud "It's YOUR turn to goooooooooo...okay fine, I'll go..."

Laugh at something said on the radio...groan when I get behind the trash truck....mutter the word "really?" when someone pulls in front of me, mutter "hold your lane!" when someone slides into mine

Sing Bennie and the Jets out loud...loudly

etc


Granted, I'm not driving for hours. But they'd still hear a good bit of singing if I did.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Here is an interesting scenerio...

Lets suggest that the Owner of the company is a rabid tRump fan. And you happen to have the radio on and listening to talk radio. You start cursing this administration with all of the passion you have in your body.
What then? Does the owner ignore it? Do you suddenly begin getting all the chit runs because of your politics. Good luck proving that even though you know in your heart its true.
There are laws against discrimination, but they are bypassed ever minute of every day.
It is something to ponder while you are driving.

[Tobin S.]

12. From what I understand there is no audio, but I could be wrong about that.

But trucking companies generally don't care about your politics. The labor market for trucking is so tight right now that they can't afford to be discriminating on such petty grounds. A good driver is a good driver no matter what you might think about his political beliefs.

[Ferrets are Cool]

16. Good point. I didn't think about there being no audio. nt

[hibbing]

8. A friend of mine is a transportation manager

For a large food service company. He told me they look at the video only after an incident, he has a lot of drivers out at a time and I'm not sure how it is set up. I do know he is having a heck of a time keeping or finding drivers and he had some guy making over 100k get busted for DUI while on the job last week.

That does have to be a weird feeling, do you know if there are people watching the cameras live all the time?


Peace

[Tobin S.]

13. From what I understand...

...there are several proscribed events that, if they happen on the road, the camera will send footage of if they occur: hard braking, swerving, running over the rumble strip, following too close, stuff like that. When those events occur, video footage is sent to a subcontractor of 15 seconds before the incident up to 15 seconds afterward.

But, from what I understand, they can look in at any time for whatever reason they want. My boss was telling me the other night that they might be used to detect insurance fraud. It seems that some truckers are claiming that they don't smoke when they actually do to get the lower health insurance premiums that the company offers for non-smokers. The cameras would be used to show them smoking in the truck. He thought that the company might be trying to make the fleet a non-smoking fleet by prohibiting smoking in their trucks.

That's conjecture on his part at this point, of course, but I've seen trucking companies try to do stuff like that in the past. Trying to ban smoking in their trucks would not be a prudent business decision, I don't believe, since most truckers smoke. You'd just be driving truckers away from the company in an already tight labor market for trucking...which the cameras might do as well. I know a lot of drivers won't drive with a camera pointed at them all day, and many drivers at our company are pissed about it.

[Major Nikon]

9. There's another side to that coin

You are hearing more and more about vehicle accidents where cell phone usage is involved and this has now evolved into one of the biggest risks everyone faces on the road. I'm pretty sure commercial operators aren't immune to this trend and for someone driving a large vehicle, the consequences become potentially far greater.

[Tobin S.]

14. That's true to a certain extent, but not the the extent that it is with passenger car drivers.

The reason being is that there are heavy fines for texting and using a cell phone without a head set for truckers. To talk legally on a cell phone in a big rig a head set is required. From what I've heard using a cell phone illegally in a truck carries a fine of $2500 for the driver and $10,000 for the trucking company. That's what a previous employer told me. A fine like that will probably cost a trucker his or her job.

But truckers still engage in that kind of behavior. I see it sometimes out on the road. But not to the extent I see it with passenger car drivers. Even though texting and driving is illegal in most places now, I still see a lot of car drivers doing it. It seems like half the drivers who pass me in cars out on the interstate have a cell phone in their hand.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

10. Nothin for nothin but...

..I wonder if this has anything to do with wanting to robotize/automate truck driving, and the desire to possibly phase out drivers? If they can catch folks doing something and pick them off, one by one. I'm sorry this is the case. I have a relative who's truck is tracked now for times at deliveries etc. He's much more stressed out. Be careful. Good luck.

[Tobin S.]

15. That's the overall trend.

Increasing automation and continuous monitoring is where we are going. In 35 years there will probably no longer be any such thing as a truck driver.

However, truckers are still currently badly needed in the industry. It's not a ploy to pick off drivers. It's a ploy to try to make them safer, to cut insurance costs, and to protect companies in the event of accidents. But the result is that it makes a driver feel more like a machine than a desired human being.