Drive(r) Cam

I never wore a belt while backing either. Come to think on it. Sometimes I lean way over to cover my right hand mirrior looking over and eyeballing small details related to that kind of backing very carefully.

 

When I would blind side back I would stand up by the shifter and lean over and look out the passenger window. If something went wrong there wasn't enough time to get back to the clutch, you had to pull the parking brake and stall her out. Wish the cameras were around back then I would be famous in the safety department.

 

@scottied67 i can believe they'd terminate a long term driver. It's actually in their interest to do so.. he'll be replaced by a brand new driver making not a lot compared to him. Swift saves money. And if there were videos, that's just a convenient excuse. I'd advise anyone working for a mega for over 4 years to cover their ### on everything they do. Cheaper to train and replace you than to pay extra for a couple months.

 

With my T660 and long legs I can feather clutch it while leaning out the passenger window and hand at the ready for the trolley handle in blinds sides. Seat belt doesn't quite reach that far though....

 

Yes i can see that angle. My advice would be as soon as the company goes on nanny alert it would be better to quit before being terminated. Terminated has to go down on the next job application, but everyone knows truck drivers quit so there would be less questions and consternation by recruiters.

 

Moose, when I got my truck it only had the radar. At first it wasn't too bad. It has a display box on the dash that shows the speed and distance of the vehicle in front of you. I actually like that feature and was learning to use it to my advantage when I got the last couple videos. The radar itself will beep if you are within 130 feet behind a vehicle that is moving slower than you. If the vehicle is moving faster, it wont beep. If you stay this close behind someone for too long, ignoring the beeping, the QUALCOMM will beep at you with a following distance violation. I've had a couple of these violations in the process of learning to work with the system.

I will state here right now that it is not my habit to tailgate or intentionally follow too closely. My problems with the violations at this point fell mostly with getting caught behind vehicles moving slower than me and waiting for an opportunity to pass while trying to maintain a distance that would allow me to pass without first having to play catch up. Basically trying to avoid the 10 mile drag race. I learned to just back off and avoid the beeping, thus avoiding the violations.

Then came the camera. At first, I'm thinking that if I'm good with the radar, I'm in good shape. Then I get the first video. And I learn that the camera has it's own distance sensor. Several videos later, including one that shows me doing the right thing when a car merges in front of me (and I still get criticized about it), I've learned that it's not just about how close you are following, but how long you stay that close. And that right there is the key. Vehicles will move in and out in front of you all day long and will never trigger the video. But that one that is matching your speed and moves in front of you and stays there instead of pulling away will catch you if you don't back off. True, they will eventually clear out, either because they are just that much faster or merge away, but if you don't back off allow a safe distance, it's all on you.

I talked with Victor after he sent out the QUALCOMM video about getting videos from traffic merging in front of us, as he put it- natural flow of traffic. He pointed out that even though I was keeping safe distances, my problem was that I wasn't reacting to the ones who passed and stayed in front of me too long. Even though they were moving faster than I was, it wasn't enough to maintain a safe distance and it was up to me to back off. It was then that it dawned on me that I could use the radar to judge the speed and distance of what was in front of me and back off when needed. Unfortunately, it came a little too late and a couple videos later, here I sit.

 

I wouldn't take it too personally, Swift is in financial dire straits and has to trim thousands of drivers in the next few months.

 

And I'm sure you'll provide a link for the rest of us to verify this bull ####, right, Scottie?