Where is everyone #5

They got me started on it actually. Seeing them do it reminds me lol

 

I just wanted to be post #26,000

 

My goal since joining the forum has always been to be post 26002. YOLO!!!!

 

Pack a day plus since I was 15years old. Been a non smoker since March, I think?

30 yeas of smoking. Really took its toll on me. I’m starting to have health issues because of it.

Anyway..........

Nope, just good old American “chicken chimichanga” with a Cadillac margarita.

 

They are SmartDrive camera's, only forward looking however they do record audio inside the truck. They are setup to record and send when an "event" occurs. These events, following too close, hard braking, cornering too fast, drifting out of the lane etc. The video does not go directly to SPD and SPD has no way to "remotely monitor or trigger" camera. Events are sent to SmartDrive where they review them to see if was actually an event or a false alarm. If they see it truly is a safety event they send it on to SPD where they have a consultant that contacts the driver for "coaching"

So that brings us to the guys who are haling crap 20' wide who rarely spend any time in their own lane, slam on the brakes for people not paying attention etc which in turn keeps the camera and data stream back to SmartDrive very busy. I'm pretty sure all of us on the super-load team have gotten the phone call questioning our going from running down the zipper to driving on the shoulder, back into our lane, back one the shoulder......... you get the idea. We explain that the camera doesn't show the trailer behind us taking up 2 lanes of road and we're trying to keep stupid people alive.

Then there's the phone call because I was following another oversize load TOO CLOSE, driving aggressive and a hard brake "event". I told him to figure out who it was pulling that SPD trailer in front of me and call him, he was the lead driver that trip and I was just following his lead @kylefitzy

I've been running my own forward facing dash cam since before there were dash cams, I started with an original GoPro Hero. I think they are an excellent tool for defending oneself in the event of a he-said she-said scenario and our cameras have already saved a couple drivers from false blame simply due to the driver pointing out the dash cam to the person lying to the police. I have also had 2 calls from the coach regarding events my camera has recorded and I'll be honest with you, I have changed a couple of my ways based on these coaching sessions and have not had a valid event recorded since then. For me, I was pulling out too close behind passing vehicles when approaching slower traffic, 3 events to be exact. 1 other event was when I was bobtailing, driving the truck like it was a high powered sports car and the only thing I could say about that one "that thar wus good driven wasn't it", he wasn't impressed and I was completely in the wrong with the way I was driving at that moment in time.

One of our drivers put it best in one of the live forums "If your a professional driver and drive like a professional you have nothing to worry about" and I'll agree whole heatedly with his statement. SPD owns the trucks, they find it in their best interest to have forward facing cams whether it be for use in coaching bad driving habits, saving bogus insurance claims or insurance discounts. Again, they own the truck, they pay me really well to drive it, if they want to record how I'm driving down the road hauling something that costs millions of dollars and record the audio of my pilots calling out EVERYTHING they that's their right, I'm on their clock driving their truck.

 

I don't like the idea of anyone in the office watching my driving. I've got my own camera, but that's mere a CYA thing. They should trust me to do my job and act professionally on the road.

 

I kinda quit smoking 5 years ago this past August, I started vaping and still do albeit with zero nicotine, it's simply the physical aspect of it now and quite frankly I don't see myself stopping that anytime soon. And FWIW, nicotine isn't whats bad for you in cigarettes, it's the all the stuff created from the burning of the tobacco. There's nicotine in everyday foods we eat like tomatoes, broccoli etc.

I'm sure I'm going to suffer some effects from vaping however health wise I'm back to where I was pre-smoking (plus 36 years of age of course), I can run without getting winded, taste my food, no cough, RARELY get sick etc. I started smoking in Junior High because this girl I was trying to hook-up with smoked over behind the 7-Eleven before and after school. I started smoking to have an excuse to hang out with her and it worked, I got addicted to cigarettes, oh wait, that wasn't the goal so I guess it didn't work.