Comments By Attila

You doing like just local stuff or mixing it up?

Been busy lately. All those situations you spoke of can be handled mostly by dash cams. By the way add a disclamer to this statment "you'll enjoy unparalleled sense of freedom and independence," from carriers who do not enforce in cab cams. (truckingtruth, is truckdriving right for me?)

Spoke with a dozen SWIFTies last few days at two terminals. They were all ****ed off about this except one 66 yo lady who was laughing. She basically said, I'm retiring in 2 years and it sure sucks to be you guys. Had to lol, it was funny.

Remember that I am all for dash cams or any camera that shows outside and around the truck. I fully support it, I think those will help truckers and our companies out a lot. In cab is too scetchy, too invasive, and to many problems I see with it. Both for me personally and for the company. The more I think about it the less sense in cabs make to me. I am trying to undestand lol :-P

Atilla, what do you think about the camera being able to help you?

Don't take my post as bashing on you its a duel edged sword as I see it.

I do agree in principal with your concerns in this matter. Though not your knee jerk reaction.

I do belive it can help or hurt. Bud A again said it right, these videos do not always get the context right.

From Atilla:

Thanks for clearing that up. It is a big concern of mine but it also makes sense that if something goes wrong out here both the driver and company are in the same boat.

It's called the Deep Pocket principle. A driver could be watching a soccer game on his tablet, while driving down I-95, stucking on a brewski. If he rear ends a car with a mom & her kids, the trucking company will still have to come up with the $30 million. The driver won't ever see that much money.

Actually I have worked for mega corps most of my adult life and have seen a few people thrown under the bus. Simple if a company can shift more blame on the driver there is less blame on the company. Which means less of a payout. Unless I read a federal law that states these videos can not be used against a driver in a court of law, I will be highly skeptical. The only people who can really answer my questions are defense attorneys who specialize in this sort of thing. Out of all these post Bud A said it best. We are probly OK if we are awake and not doing anything really bad, then again you can never predict what a court/jury will do.

Joe do what is safe above all else. If you start getting to tired pull over and sleep. I often get 80 hours of work crammed into 6 days then take 48 hours for RR. All this without ever driving the dredded 1-4am nights. Nothing is worth falling asleep behind a 40 ton death machine. Take your time and push yourself slowly. It's OK if a load does not get in because of sleep issues, this is trucking after all. If all else fails remember Congress has mandated that a trucker has the right to sleep whenever he wants.

Best post: This is America. Quit your job, because others will happily take it. And uhh, I heard In-n-Out is hiring. You might wanna look into that.

In and Out is highly regarded as a great company to work for as a trucker. I have spoken with a few drivers with that Co. and they are happy. I have also looked into employment with them.

The inmates seem to have taken over the Asylum on this one my friends.... take cover.

Some people find it hard to have a conversation with someone they don't agree with without it turning into a personal name-calling kinda thing. This conversation was a good one with a lot of interesting points but a few tantrums thrown in unfortunately.

I still think the main cause of fear is that some people have the impression that a trucking company can clear themselves of wrongdoing if their driver causes a wreck. They think the company is going to look at the camera and say, "See! It was the driver's fault. We shouldn't take the blame for this. Blame him!"

But that's not how it works. The liability for everything that happens to a company truck falls upon the company itself. That doesn't mean the driver can't also be convicted of wrongdoing if he did something egregious. But the company doesn't walk away without punishment. They are liable for anyone they put in the truck. Why do you think they've developed the CSA system to track inspections, tickets, and accidents? Why do you think a company's score drops when their drivers screw up? Because ultimately the company is responsible for the drivers they hire and what those drivers do behind the wheel.

So don't think that the company is putting a camera in the truck to put the blame on the driver and take the blame off themselves. They're doing everything they can to protect themselves which means not only identifying drivers that are putting the company at risk, but also proving that the driver was doing his job properly when an accident occurred.

If you were cruising down the road, and a car pulled out in front of you and you hit it from behind you would automatically be at fault until proven otherwise. Even with a dash cam the person might be able to argue that if the truck driver was paying attention he could have gotten stopped in time. Combine that with a driver cam showing that the driver was indeed paying full attention at the time and now you have a much clearer defense.

Thanks for clearing that up. It is a big concern of mine but it also makes sense that if something goes wrong out here both the driver and company are in the same boat.

Be clean and awake. Don't need a suite but do not dress like your homeless or some hipster hippie college student :-P ...

Good post Bud A. Thanks, it's one of the best so far IMO.