Camera's are coming to a truck near you or Yours.

I get what you're saying but I think you're wrong. Its true that if a driver just so happens to be looking in a mirror or heads down adjusting the radio, that's what the lawyers are going to go after. But lets face facts, if the driver was looking down at the radio, the driver WAS partially at fault in that case. I'm not saying drivers shouldn't do that, but I am saying that when you as driver choose to look down and find a different top 40 station on the radio while you're driving, you are making the choice to expose yourself to a liability risk. That's life and that is always how its been. All this system does is provide a way for the guilty to be found guilty.

But take a really hard look at how you drive. If you're like most drivers, 99.9% of the time you spend driving, you are eyes forward and focused on the road. Regardless of what you believe, no lawyer will have much luck trying to argue a driver was inattentive when the video clearly shows that he or she was eyes on the road hands on the wheel during the entire 10 seconds preceding the event.

That depends on the company. Most will protect the driver whenever doing so also protects the company and most will hang the driver when doing so protects the company. But that's always how its been. These cameras don't change that, they just provide additional evidence that bolster the case in either direction.

You are incorrect. You are at work and using a piece of equipment which is owned and maintained by the company. You have no expectation of privacy and you never did. In the bunk is a different story. Sort of the same way you don't see security cameras in bathrooms. But in the drivers seat? You never had any expectation of privacy there. I get that it might feel like you do have that expectation because no one was ever watching before. But you do not have any expectation of privacy behind the wheel of any company vehicle and you never did and any first year law student will tell you that.

 

Let's keep it simple. Companies have a right to put these interior Drivecam's in and we have a right not to work there. The day my company tries to put a camera inside my truck is the day I find another company to drive for. Not complicated with today's driver shortage.
And best believe that other companies will be using this as a recruiting tool.
Recruiter: Oh no, we don't utilize Drivecam's...we respect your privacy...come on over...etc.
Let these companies dig their own graves and move on...real simple. There will always be good companies to drive for that don't impose this BS on their driver's.

 

Johan, I agree the cam records constantly, I agree there is a "loop". The camera has an on board memory of MUCH more than 20 seconds. Hallucinate with me for a moment, let's say in our hypothetical the cam has a 64 gig memory. Let's also with the resolution settings 64 gigs will give you 24 hours of recording. When you first install the cam it won't "overwrite" until there are 24 hours recorded. Once you've had the camera operable for 24 hours there will ALWAYS be 24 hours to view. Let's say oh your truck goes in the shop. Your last 24 hours with engine running could be on YouTube before your truck was repaired.

As to your fast food workplace analogy. Those folks LEAVE after their shift. The cam doesn't follow them home.

I mean dagnabit if I want to drive the company truck with a polo and an out of view speedo, shouldn't I be able? Or if I scratch the boys while talking on the cb from the TS during my ten, do I really need a company cam recording??

 

Your understanding of the system is flawed. They don't have very much memory in them. They record the loop and overwrite as they go. When an event is triggered that previous 10 second loop is copied to memory along with the next 10 second loop giving you a 20 second file that is saved along with telemetry data. The file is then transmitted immediately to servers in the cloud. IIRC there is capacity inside the box to hold a handful of 20 second event clips which the system would have to do if an event were triggered in an area where 3G coverage is spotty. The system keeps trying to transmit until it finds a 3G signal and successfully uploads the files.

That's how the systems works. There is not enough memory to store 24 hours of clips nor is there a need for it. Think about it. Having the clips stored in the box is a bad idea because a tech savy driver could hack the box, delete the file and then the event never happened. The only way to implement this sort of thing reliably and securely is to have the files offloaded from the box immediately.

Lots of video security systems use the same principal. The cameras are on site but all of the video is stored off-site in the cloud thereby preventing the criminals from simply stealing the box holding the video files while they're also stealing everything else.

If the company policy says you can't then no you shouldn't be able to wear whatever you want. The fact you could in the past because the company had no way to check has no bearing on whether or not you have a right to do it. If the company says you need to be meet a certain dress code anytime you're behind the wheel then you need to meet that dress code or face the consequences for violating company policy. I mean this really isn't rocket science here. Its their truck. Its their right to set the policies for what you can and can't do while you're in it. Its their right to monitor what you do while you're in it.

Its your right to go work somewhere else if you don't like it and I suspect lots of guys will do just that. But I also suspect that just like where EOBR's came around and 90% of the ones who said 'I'll quit if they ever put one in my truck' didn't actually quit, quite a few of those who are saying the same thing now about the cameras will fail to actually pull the trigger when push comes to shove. Just my opinion. But its an opinion based on lots of experience with drivers who talk a big game but often don't follow up with action. Especially when that talk is on the internet. I'm just sayin'.

 

From watching the video is all being done in Phases. As far as line haul drivers, it will be at least 18 months before they get to you. L/O and O/O are not being affected.

 

Please post the full specs of the cameras they will be installing.

If you can't, then your understanding of the system could also be flawed.

 

My dash cam has a 64gig card that will record a 1 minute, 3 minute, or 5 minute vid and it saves it on the disc. I stores about 12 hours of data at 1080 p before it rewrites over it. If there is a shock event or the camera is triggered to save a file it is not written over. You can change the resolution and it will save files for an even longer period.

 

Key word bolded. The dash cams you buy in truck stops have internal storage. The systems companies put in do not. As I said in the post you quoted but apparently didn't read, from a company standpoint, you don't want the files stored in the truck where the driver can attempt to find and destroy them. The only viable company implemented system is a system where the video event is captured by the camera and immediately transmitted to a server so the driver no longer has any hope accessing it. In a system like that, internal storage is not required or even desired.

 

True enough. As I've stated, I don't work for swift (don't really understand why anyone would either but that's a different story) so I don't know for sure what exact system they're going to use. But I do work for a company that has looked at the Drive Cam system by Lytx and my understanding of that system is based on the meetings I attended with their sales people. I suspect the specs of that system can be found online if you care to google it. But like I've said no company implemented system would be worth a dime if it left the files inside the camera where a driver could hack and destroy them. You've got to capture the video and get it out of the truck before the driver can even get the truck parked or you've got nothing so I can't imagine a company like Swift settling for anything less.

 

It's not really "specs" but it's a more in depth FAQ than the ones swift is handing out. This one is straight from the manufactures website

http://www.lytx.com/resource-center/frequently-asked-questions