Just giving this some sunshine

[snafu]

No fleet manager I know has time to sit around watching driver footage for kicks.
AI cameras don't record constantly anyway. They grab a short clip on a trigger event, hard brake, sharp turn, tailgating. That's it. No audio on ours either.

When you're behind the wheel on duty you're at work. No expectation of privacy, and commercial drivers are held to the highest standard on the road.
These cameras protect drivers too. We've beaten cellphone tickets where the officer's story didn't hold up and seat belt tickets where a cop claimed he spotted it from across a highway. Footage saved those drivers.

There's also the liability reality. Driver causes a mass casualty accident, the company gets sued into oblivion. Driver finds another job. Cameras protect everyone, and honestly, you're on camera everywhere else anyway. Shippers, receivers, stores, parking lots, the street. Nobody's losing sleep over that.

Save the privacy argument for your personal vehicle or your home. That's where it applies. The company truck? Not so much.
Just my $0.02

Not true. I dealt with a dispatcher a couple of years who routinely watched the dash cams in real time claiming they were monitoring what the weather and road conditions were like on trucks that needed to be somewhere...
That same individual also would for lack of a better term 'stalk' drivers via the camera when their truck was actually parked. Cameras still operate for a period of time even after the engine has been turned off.
Thankfully they were relieved of that position and never heard from again...

But if driver facing dash cams are all about safety, then why limit it to workplace vehicles only. Let's make them mandatory in all personal vehicles as well with a direct link/download to the insurance company to monitor driver behavior.. I mean if you're in favour of them then why not practice what you're preaching. No more 4 wheelers distracted causing accidents either would be a good thing right? Public highways, office staff on their way to and from work, out shopping or taking a family road trip should also never take their hands off the steering wheel for any reason and be held to the same standards then.....they share the same roads/highways. Still about safety and rising insurance costs right ?


Oh wait...that would be outrageous and the general motoring public would never accept it...rules for thee but not for me...

Which brings me back to my original point, driver facing dash cams won't change a culture, elogs and speed limiters didn't either. They will just piss off more of the good ones that have already had enough of this industry's bullshit and are ready to pack it in.
My brother did just that a few months ago after close to 20 years with the same carrier, walked in and told them to shove it and after 45 years in the industry he grew up in, has absolutely no interest in driving for anyone ever again. You can only push people so far..

 

[snafu]

Plot twist:

It's actually a lot lizard and he's not even married, trying to cover his behind.

Honestly that looks a bit fake to but in my employment agreement I have a clause about having unauthorized passengers in the truck while vehicle is in transit.

I can also tell you from experience if a driver is hauling any hazmat shipments crossing the border, everyone in the truck, whether they are a passanger or not must have TDG tickets. We had a driver take his wife across the border and we got turned back because the wife didn't have a class 1 or TDG. They didn't care.

If it's fake which it may well be, then that's the best looking 'lot lizard' I've seen in over a decade or three.
Clearly having unauthorized passengers is one thing, but having your wife meet you to spend an hour or two together while you're stopped and off duty is another. Especially for those who stay out for weeks at a time.

Edited to add: My apologies for incorrectly using the offensive term 'lot lizard'. I should have said 'truckstop hostess' which is the non offensive term that federal labour laws now require with mandatory sensitivity training for all employees of federally regulated companies.

My bad...

 

[LrgCar]

Not true. I dealt with a dispatcher a couple of years who routinely watched the dash cams in real time claiming they were monitoring what the weather and road conditions were like on trucks that needed to be somewhere...
That same individual also would for lack of a better term 'stalk' drivers via the camera when their truck was actually parked. Cameras still operate for a period of time even after the engine has been turned off.
Thankfully they were relieved of that position and never heard from again...

But if driver facing dash cams are all about safety, then why limit it to workplace vehicles only. Let's make them mandatory in all personal vehicles as well with a direct link/download to the insurance company to monitor driver behavior.. I mean if you're in favour of them then why not practice what you're preaching. No more 4 wheelers distracted causing accidents either would be a good thing right? Public highways, office staff on their way to and from work, out shopping or taking a family road trip should also never take their hands off the steering wheel for any reason and be held to the same standards then.....they share the same roads/highways. Still about safety and rising insurance costs right ?


Oh wait...that would be outrageous and the general motoring public would never accept it...rules for thee but not for me...

Which brings me back to my original point, driver facing dash cams won't change a culture, elogs and speed limiters didn't either. They will just piss off more of the good ones that have already had enough of this industry's bullshit and are ready to pack it in.
My brother did just that a few months ago after close to 20 years with the same carrier, walked in and told them to shove it and after 45 years in the industry he grew up in, has absolutely no interest in driving for anyone ever again. You can only push people so far..

Company truck, company equipment, their call simple as that. And if you don't like it drive for yourself. Amazon drivers are cammed up completely, ride share, taxis, buses, nobody says a word about any of that so why is trucking any different.

Your personal vehicle is a whole different conversation, that's yours, you paid for it, you do what you want in it. Nuclear verdicts are getting insane and insurers are already pulling out of the industry. If cameras help fight that then honestly what's the argument against them. That footage can save a driver just as fast as it can hang them. The tenured crowd push back harder because they grew up in a different industry, totally understandable, heck, they were complaining about electronic BOLS. But new drivers just see it as part of the job. The data on accidents coming down is pretty hard to ignore and with insurance costs going the way they are the industry can't really afford not to have them. Where im at, I haven't seen a single driver walk out the door because of cameras. Bad management and an out-of-touch safety department will push a good driver out way faster than any camera ever will. That's what retention actually comes down to not some tin hat theory about Big Brother watching you through the dash cam.

 

[snafu]

Company truck, company equipment, their call simple as that. And if you don't like it drive for yourself. Amazon drivers are cammed up completely, ride share, taxis, buses, nobody says a word about any of that so why is trucking any different.

Your personal vehicle is a whole different conversation, that's yours, you paid for it, you do what you want in it. Nuclear verdicts are getting insane and insurers are already pulling out of the industry. If cameras help fight that then honestly what's the argument against them. That footage can save a driver just as fast as it can hang them. The tenured crowd push back harder because they grew up in a different industry, totally understandable, heck, they were complaining about electronic BOLS. But new drivers just see it as part of the job. The data on accidents coming down is pretty hard to ignore and with insurance costs going the way they are the industry can't really afford not to have them. Where im at, I haven't seen a single driver walk out the door because of cameras. Bad management and an out-of-touch safety department will push a good driver out way faster than any camera ever will. That's what retention actually comes down to not some tin hat theory about Big Brother watching you through the dash cam.

New drivers.. yeah we see them all the time in the ditches because they're reliant on technology. Automatic transmissions, cruise control, gps says go this way even though its a skidooo trail, can't think for themselves and are pushed to keep moving because that eld is still ticking causing insurance rates to spike.
Cameras aren't helping.
It's not a tin hat theory when the dash cam is chirping at you non stop to reduce speed because you're 8 km over the speed limit on the highway, or chirping at you because you put the vehicle in drive without fastening your seatbelt just to move it 30 feet, out of the yard so you can close the gate behind you. It's not tin hat theory when you're getting sent texts from a phone number in the Silicone Valley instructing you to review your driving behavior and take their online course because their AI camera bullshit says you were being unsafe...that's literally big brother watching.

 

[JACKBURTON]

.that's literally big brother watching

Except it's not the government, and you can not work at that place, if you wish?

 

[snafu]

Except it's not the government, and you can not work at that place, if you wish?

It might not be the government but it's still someone watching your every move... every single move.
Absolutely, anyone can choose not to work for places like that. Many have. They've been replaced by foreigners that can't drive worth shit but hey, some of you love that cheap labour. Even though they're the ones who are jacking up the insurance costs...
Forward facing cameras with their AI bullshit are annoying but there's ways to mute the AI bitch so it's tolerable.
But driver facing cameras...that will never ever happen for me. I'll gladly spend my 'golden years' in a jail cell for standing my ground before that ever happens.

Oops guess I have to go do another one of these government mandated new age courses now... workplace violence