Are Companies Putting Driver Facing Cameras In Their Trucks?

So I have been jumping here and there reading this and that (no real beginning or ending in everything I have read so far). I saw in one post that companies may put driver facing cameras in their trucks, as in the cabs. So far as minuses go this is the worst to me. I would never be able to pick my nose or sing out of tune knowing I am being watched and the idea in itself bothers me. I can deal with the biggest bummer which is not being able to carry my sidearm on the road, but being watched, that's just too creepy.

The experiment called driver facing cams has started to fall apart. Even Swift has disabled the driver facing cam. As far as the dash cam side of things. Call that experiment a success.

I say, it's their truck/equipment and if they want to have driver facing cameras, that's certainly their right. You also have the right to decide you don't care to work for them. Many people feel the same way as you do.

That said, as Patrick mentioned, many companies who've had them are disabling them for reasons I don't know. I know my company trialed them in a small number of trucks (driver's volunteered) and they decided the monitoring costs were too high and didn't offer enough benefit for that cost.

Swift cited driver retention as 1 of the reasons for disabling them.

Aha.. now Errol is safe to begin munching on Oreos!

Errol would reply, but his mouth is stuffed with Oreos and he has cookie crumbs on his fingers.

My company has them, but then again we are hauling 9,000 gallons of violatile gasoline so all precautions are taken by the company.

I never really had a problem with them. They don't watch you as you drive but they do review footage if you get a hard brake or something else of that nature. Did have a driver get in trouble for peeling an apple with a knife while he was driving though and that's all I know of.

In fact, it can be quite fun. You see, you need to treat the camera as another person inside your truck. So whenever dispatch is being stupid, or a policy is contradicting another policy, or a customer is being a jerk, or a car is being obnoxious at a gas station I use the camera to vent my frustration.

Or, when I'm in the singing mood I sing loud and clear and when the song is done I tap on the camera and ask "How was that? Damn, I can sing!"

And don't worry, I pick my nose on a daily basis in front of the camera, pretty sure all the drivers do. Pretty soon you forget its there, or you just learn to have fun with it.

I see you found the right spot, lol.

Roehl has announced that all trucks wil be equipped with cameras over the next two years. They record based on triggering events. 1) hard braking 2) roll over sensors (a pothole filled dirt lot will set this off) 3) Anytime you have less then 4 seconds following distance from the vehicle in front of you. (This one was announced recently as they began to learn how to adjust the camera software).

Roehl has announced that all trucks wil be equipped with cameras over the next two years. They record based on triggering events. 1) hard braking 2) roll over sensors (a pothole filled dirt lot will set this off) 3) Anytime you have less then 4 seconds following distance from the vehicle in front of you. (This one was announced recently as they began to learn how to adjust the camera software).

I like lots of following distance as much as everyone else, but if a camera went off every time someone cut four seconds in front of me; many high traffic areas would be almost continuous alarm events. 285 bypass Atlanta the more I back off the more people dive in. A no win situation.

Maybe the cost of so many false alarms will cause them to reconsider.