Every camera company is a bad company.

Hmmmmm root of cameras in trucks: cell phones. Don't blame companies. Blame all guys that crashed watching pornhub while driving, or using any other cell phone function while driving. I don't think that cameras would be in trucks had cell phones hadn't evolved and become such a distraction. I see drivers texting all the time while trucking along, at high speeds. I'm governed at 65 so I don't miss much lol

 

I get that, and I definitely have mixed feelings on driver facing cameras. I have never driven a truck for a company that did not have them yet. How do I handle the camera? Literally by forgetting it’s there. I ignore it. All I can say is if my dispatch is watching me like 24/7, They will truly think that I am insane! Lol we all get a little nutty out there driving day after day. Do I do anything that’s unsafe? That depends.

I definitely don’t handle my cell phone, do I drink my coffee, do I get on the CB, do I push the Pandora button without holding my cell phone, do I reach over and pick something up I dropped off of the floor, do I reach over to the passenger seat where I keep my water bottles and grab one, yes I do all of those things but I do them when it’s safe and no one around me and I’m not in a turn or in heavy traffic. To me the driver facing camera takes away a lot of common sense and true human adaption.

The other reason I’m against it it’s for the reason I’ve stayed it a couple times on this thread. The only purpose for the driver facing camera is the pass blame and liability on to you as a driver allowing the company to escape. Most people don’t realize this but as a CDL holder you carry a professional license. This is not a regular drivers license people. It’s subjects you to liability and prosecution at a different level. It holds you to a higher standard which it should be. It gives you no separation like a normal job does though. To try and explain in simple terms, if you work at Walmart and accidentally knock a loaded cart over onto a customer and it breaks their arm, that customer will sue Walmart. Not you as a personal individual. If you were a CDL holder and you screw something up and injure someone or kill someone, you can be held personally liable. You can have your assets taken away. That is why the camera is there! It gives the company an out. A potential out.

Think about it logically. What possible benefit can there be to being a driver facing camera when you have an outward facing camera? The upside for a driver facing camera is nothing. It’s neutral at best. “OK there was an incident and the driver wasn’t doing anything distracting.” The outward facing camera is what proves fault if the accident or incident. You don’t need a driver facing camera for that.

 

I don't disagree with a thing in your post. I do understand the company's perspective though. It's a business and they gotta do what they gotta do to protect their business.....drivers surely don't do it. So many drivers dog out the equipment provided by the company. They have the mentality of, "It ain't mine." Now that I've put that in the universe, that's probably been discussed too. Mainly though, for all the multiple scenarios, it's the money game. They gotta get the insurance savings, and they gotta avoid having to pay massive lawsuits themselves so yeah they will deflect to the driver. It's just more reason for us to be very careful out here on the road, cameras or not.

 

I can understand why some would object to the camera's, the last two driving jobs have had camera's in the trucks they do not bother me in the least, the question I raise is if those that insist on the camera's being mounted in our trucks up in Administration have no objection to the very same camera's being mounted in their offices then it would all be fair. Get used to the idea of camera's though as you will find more and more insurance companies will insist upon them, and after all if some one for example pulled out in front of you that resulted in a serous accident would you not like to have the video evidence to prove who was at fault? The truck I currently drive, all 60 metres of it combined with 4 trailers towing around a total of 193 metric tonnes has three camera's in the cab one faces forward filming the highway and two film inside the cab there are also two outside camera's one films the passenger side of the truck, and the other films the drivers side.

 

You guys are over thinking this. These companies get a discount on their insurance rates by having the cameras. That’s it. It’s got nothing to do with anything else.

 

I'll never forget, the first trainer I ever had- not even twenty minutes after meeting him- had his head down trying to text his wife- in-between opening a bag of sun chips, and also somehow grabbing his subway sandwich off the dash for a bite- all while pulling out of a pilot dragging a 53 ft trailer. It was like he had an extra tentacle for feeding his mouth-hole.

I wasn't even mad. It was impressive.

And omg that dude could eat. He was well over 400 lbs, and in that first 30 minutes he downed a footlong, a bag of chips, cookies, AND an entire order from taco bell which had like 3 burritos and a couple chalupas. Plus a liter of cola. Dude was named Farva. It was at least 4000 calories. I have no idea how he didn't poop his pants that night.

It was as if he was ordering food for me as well, and then when he realized I had already bought my own meal- he just didn't want to waste anything.

 

Sorta, Insurance is a big part of it.

Some just wanna make their drivers lives hell, every company I've contracted for (Thank God I never Leased on or Drove for them) that had camera's, used them to just crush any driver they could. I mean its gotten so bad, at some of the big companies up here, some drivers get 50-100 phone calls a day from the "driver coaches" in the monitoring centers. I'm not even kidding, 50-100. Safety Bonus? never to be paid again. It doesn't matter if you're a day one guy, or 25 years in without a bump, they have an opinion on everything you do, literally everything. The best part is, the monitoring center jobs, you're not required to even have a car license to work there; most take the bus to work for just above min wage.

I'm leased on now, local regional job, love it, but the day the camera's show up, I'm out.

 

Such a disgusting pig.

 

no law was ever written without someone doing something stupid first. they screw up the law when they write it but the original intent of keeping humans from being idiots is well concieved