Just giving this some sunshine

I have a legit question about this. Do employers spot check their drivers while they are working to ensure they are performing their job safely? When on the clock, being paid by an employer, would it be prudent to do so? Based on the facts in the story, the actions of the driver being so distracted it was only a matter of time before this or much worse happened.

Before you try and play the 'right to privacy' card, I can look out my office window and see 40+ employees when they are being paid to work. I can call them out for not wearing eye protection, or other proper PPE and I can call them out for unsafe work procedures or not following SOPs. It's how we ensure safety and quality. Does this not apply to drivers? Yaya, unplug the camera when off duty, we don't want to see what you're doing off hours. On duty, on camera and that needs to be a live feed.

My 5 cents,
Mike
 
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MikeJr said:
I have a legit question about this. Do employers spot check their drivers while they are working to ensure they are performing their job safely? When on the clock, being paid by an employer, would it be prudent to do so? Based on the facts in the story, the actions of the driver being so distracted it was only a matter of time before this or much worse happened.

Before you try and play the 'right to privacy' card, I can look out my office window and see 40+ employees when they are being paid to work. I can call them out for not wearing eye protection, or other proper PPE and I can call them out for unsafe work procedures or not following SOPs. It's how we ensure safety and quality. Does this not apply to drivers? Yaya, unplug the camera when off duty, we don't want to see what you're doing off hours. On duty, on camera and that needs to be a live feed.

My 5 cents,
Mike
Click to expand...
That's a hard no from me. 42 years, millions of miles, at this week in and week out, the past 19 without being involved in a single accident whatsoever and only 1 ticket in the past 20 plus years.
Driver facing camera = immediate kiss my ass and experience goodbye. I absolutely refuse to work for any goof that mandates them period.
I know one specialized fleet which would immediately lose close to 90% of their drivers/owner-operators over it. They would essentially be shut down because you cannot simply replace that skill level.

And there's more than one wild card out there that I know of personally where if push came to shove.. it would be a violent response.
Cameras will never change a culture just like elogs and speed limiters haven't improved the industry either...
All they will do is further drive the good ones out...

Be careful what you wish for....

/Rant
 
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MikeJr said:
I have a legit question about this. Do employers spot check their drivers while they are working to ensure they are performing their job safely? When on the clock, being paid by an employer, would it be prudent to do so? Based on the facts in the story, the actions of the driver being so distracted it was only a matter of time before this or much worse happened.

Before you try and play the 'right to privacy' card, I can look out my office window and see 40+ employees when they are being paid to work. I can call them out for not wearing eye protection, or other proper PPE and I can call them out for unsafe work procedures or not following SOPs. It's how we ensure safety and quality. Does this not apply to drivers? Yaya, unplug the camera when off duty, we don't want to see what you're doing off hours. On duty, on camera and that needs to be a live feed.

My 5 cents,
Mike
Click to expand...
Very beneficial for seeing what's going on in-cab during an incident. If the driver is not at fault, it helps protect them.

So much assorted moans and groans from the drivers (none of which quit, actually) when these were announced. We've gotten these installed in all our power units. They are now working on AI assists which detects possible unsafe habits. Of course driver eating a french fry throws us "driver smoking" alerts. It's not perfect, but it is helpful.

I think a lot of these cameras are just going to be mandated by insurance companies moving forward. Why not? No cost to them, just the carriers.
Safety department likes them, and they're on an ignition off/camera off kind of set up.

And unless you look like 1992 Pam Anderson, nobody wants to pull video just to look at you, driver.
 
Thank you for educating me on some of the pros and cons and some of the potential outcomes. One member here was kind enough to call me on my cell to have a discussion about driver facing cams yesterday, it opened my eyes to a lot of details that I didn't really think of. It seems that some companies are already mandating their use (successfully) and others are cautious because you're all correct on this - a cam could protect a professional driver or could implicate a professional driver even if they are following all the rules and that would be contrary to their intended use.

Time will tell, like Jack said, some insurance companies in the future may require them.

Keep well,
Mike
 
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An employer must disclose the use of cameras. We (manufacturing facility) post signage everywhere and also ask employees to sign a disclosure during onboarding.

Funny, people still steal each others tools. So silly and a waste of my time watching the footage to see who did what, when. The one guy who is gone now was a real klepto, like legit had a problem.

Keep well,
Mike
 
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MikeJr said:
An employer must disclose the use of cameras. We (manufacturing facility) post signage everywhere and also ask employees to sign a disclosure during onboarding.

Funny, people still steal each others tools. So silly and a waste of my time watching the footage to see who did what, when. The one guy who is gone now was a real klepto, like legit had a problem.

Keep well,
Mike
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response Mike.
 
JACKBURTON said:
And unless you look like 1992 Pam Anderson, nobody wants to pull video just to look at you, driver.
Click to expand...

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
 
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snafu said:
Sounds like a lawsuit pending..
Click to expand...
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.
 
Just a quick question. Why are there no pilot facing cameras in airplanes? The air industry has real stringent rules that immediately investigates every near miss, and every accident. The investigation is exhaustive and usually takes at least a year to piece it all together. Just as a point of reference, the Air Alaska plane whose door blew off resulted in some minor injuries and landed safely. The incident was on Jan 5, 2024, and the final report contained nearly 150 pages which was completed June 2025. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has defined standards on the investigation and reporting all with a focus on preventing further accidents and not assessing blame. All parties are willing participants, and the industry strives to better themselves.

Ground transportation on the other hand has nothing to compare that to. There is no oversight, no country wide data collection, no idea if things are better or worse. Then we have numerous different law authorities who each have their own rules and policies. Nothing is standardized. The oversight that exists in our industry has no teeth - there is little to no enforcement.

The trucking industry is made up of a wide (and I mean very wide) range of business acumen. Most in this industry have no idea what they are doing and unfortunately are doing major damage to the industry as a whole. ELDs is a perfect example of this. If everyone followed the HOS rules, and enforcement actively and purposefully enforced the rules, we wouldn't have had to have this mandated. It should have evolved the other way around - the industry should have wanted it to adopt new technology because it was cost effective and easier to manage.

The same thing goes for driver facing cameras. If these are incorporated into a carrier's workplace, then the scope of use should be very minimal and security of the videos should be paramount. The video should be not made available to just anyone. The AI could be used to alert the driver of bad behaviour and even report on it but the actual video should only be pulled after a defined process has been defined and implemented.

The reality is that we need drivers - not just steering wheel holders. AI and driver facing cameras will not create them nor will they fix them. All it can do is tell you who to get rid of - only to put another individual in the seat with a similar issue. We have to change the fact that drivers have to make a lot more money. Drivers who are willing to change bad habits or willing to do a professional job so they can continue to make the good money. We need drivers who will not risk looking at their phone let along play a game on it and not because and AI device told them.

But alas, the industry cannot and will not fix it. The carrier continues to make pennies per mile and are forced to pay everyone else more - but not the driver. Then, in the infinite wisdom, take marginalized people from other countries to fill the truck driving positions giving them fake schools to get their credentials in a country they have been in for six weeks. All in the effort to make a couple pennies more per mile than someone else and keep pushing the rates further down.

/RANT
 
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Jim L said:
Just a quick question. Why are there no pilot facing cameras in airplanes? The air industry has real stringent rules that immediately investigates every near miss, and every accident. The investigation is exhaustive and usually takes at least a year to piece it all together. Just as a point of reference, the Air Alaska plane whose door blew off resulted in some minor injuries and landed safely. The incident was on Jan 5, 2024, and the final report contained nearly 150 pages which was completed June 2025. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has defined standards on the investigation and reporting all with a focus on preventing further accidents and not assessing blame. All parties are willing participants, and the industry strives to better themselves.

Ground transportation on the other hand has nothing to compare that to. There is no oversight, no country wide data collection, no idea if things are better or worse. Then we have numerous different law authorities who each have their own rules and policies. Nothing is standardized. The oversight that exists in our industry has no teeth - there is little to no enforcement.

The trucking industry is made up of a wide (and I mean very wide) range of business acumen. Most in this industry have no idea what they are doing and unfortunately are doing major damage to the industry as a whole. ELDs is a perfect example of this. If everyone followed the HOS rules, and enforcement actively and purposefully enforced the rules, we wouldn't have had to have this mandated. It should have evolved the other way around - the industry should have wanted it to adopt new technology because it was cost effective and easier to manage.

The same thing goes for driver facing cameras. If these are incorporated into a carrier's workplace, then the scope of use should be very minimal and security of the videos should be paramount. The video should be not made available to just anyone. The AI could be used to alert the driver of bad behaviour and even report on it but the actual video should only be pulled after a defined process has been defined and implemented.

The reality is that we need drivers - not just steering wheel holders. AI and driver facing cameras will not create them nor will they fix them. All it can do is tell you who to get rid of - only to put another individual in the seat with a similar issue. We have to change the fact that drivers have to make a lot more money. Drivers who are willing to change bad habits or willing to do a professional job so they can continue to make the good money. We need drivers who will not risk looking at their phone let along play a game on it and not because and AI device told them.

But alas, the industry cannot and will not fix it. The carrier continues to make pennies per mile and are forced to pay everyone else more - but not the driver. Then, in the infinite wisdom, take marginalized people from other countries to fill the truck driving positions giving them fake schools to get their credentials in a country they have been in for six weeks. All in the effort to make a couple pennies more per mile than someone else and keep pushing the rates further down.

/RANT
Click to expand...

That safety culture in aviation exists because the barrier to entry is massive. The barrier to entry filters out most of the problem before it starts. Years of training, thousands of hours, layered certifications, and ongoing testing. You can't just walk in off the street and become a pilot from A1 Cheap n Best Flying School. Class 1 or A/Z You can have one in a few weeks, and like you pointed out yourself, there are schools out there handing out credentials to people who've been in the country for six weeks. You can't build that kind of professional pride and self-policing culture when the entry bar is that low. The oversight and lack of camera systems work in aviation partly because of who's already sitting in that seat before any of that even kicks in.

Pay fixing the problem is a bit of a pipe dream, honestly. When carriers start making more money, the whole ecosystem around them adjusts. dealers, repair shops, insurance, all of it inflates right alongside it. Played out in real time during COVID. Rates went up, and so did everything else; margins just reset at a higher number.
 
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