Drive(r) Cam

Swift is using a VERY different system than Duncan. Sounds like Swift has a contractor reviewing video feed and forwarding what they deem "worthy" to Swift. The cameras in the Duncan trucks record in loops then discard/erase and start over. The system only "keeps" what it decides is important, like if the truck is involved in an accident which sets off the system to save the recording instead of erasing it. That's why we have a "button" which saves the previous 30 minutes. We are expected to push the button in the event of ANY incident. They tell us that the system is good for 30 days yet my last card filled up in less than 20. There is a screen on the inside of the camera which displays the truck's speed and tells you if the card is full.

I don't mind the camera. I use a sun screen which I install in the windshield any time I stop for the night, completely blocks the camera's inside lens.

 

A while back, Victor sent out a video message about a change to the uploading of any saved videos. Now, instead of uploading the videos overnight, if any event triggers a video recording, the saved data is uploaded immediately so that, in case of a crash, the data can be made available to the investigators right away instead of having to wait.

Along with this and the changes made to turn off the inside camera when off duty, Victor sent out a message this past week that addresses my issue. It seems I'm not the only one who has been getting tagged for following distance violations for what basically amounts to, in his words, natural flow of traffic. I almost cried when I heard that. He said exactly what I have been trying to get my dm and safety leader to understand, yet they are still so tunnel focused on that 30 seconds of video not on the other 10 hrs per day and days and weeks where I'm apparently driving safe. But that 30 seconds means I'm gonna kill someone. Gonna try to talk to Victor next week to get some more details, but I hope it means I won't get fired.

 

We even have to deal with cameras on the LTL side of the house too. At Saia we have inward and outward on all our new freightliners. It's triggered by a serious event and than 3 minutes prior to the event and the next 10 seconds are recorded.
We even have a button that we can trigger the video manually. For instance if we have a driver harrasing us and break checking us but not triggering the event, we can hit the button to send it in in case they call and report crap falsely.

 

I think I have camera Stockholm syndrome. I got a new truck a few weeks ago and they haven't put a camera or peoplenet in it yet. I feel naked without the camera, I kind of miss it...

 

Give them some time to work up to nit-picking.

 

You're all one big Truman Show. :^)

What happens if a piece of tape or a hat happens to land in a position that obscures the inward-facing lens? Be interesting to see how long it takes for something to be said, given that they aren't supposed to be watching full time.

 

It trips off the event thing if it's obstructed.

 

Got hired to a carrier that uses the smart drive cams. Been a couple months now and I don't worry about it anymore. If this company wasn't so good to me I wouldn't put up with it. The safety guy is pretty laid back and was a driver for over 20 years. When the cam is triggered it sends about 30sec of video, 15 sec prior to event then 15 sec after event. Also noticed it randomly will record every 10 to 15 min and when I drive in the Danger Zone hours 0300-0700 it will go crazy to see if im snoozin behind the wheel. It's sent to some person at Smart drive in some cubicle who reviews the video, if the reviewer sees a red flag of any kind it's sent to your safety dept for further review and then safety determines to take action or not. I've so far haven't been called by safety to stress any concern and I've had a hard braking incident at a red light. Guess it varies company to company on how strict they are. It's definitely invasive for sure but they say it turns the driver facing camera off and sound once your stopped and pulled brakes. But I'm not so sure, I pull the curtain over it and use headphones when I shut down and watch Porn. I'm pretty diverse in the music I listen to, Mostly heavy metal to Pop,Classical, Country, blues. I wonder what they think when one minute I'm listening to Lamb of God then next Katy Perry. I also talk to myself a lot when I'm tired to keep me alert. Can't imagine the things they see though.