Camera's Aren't The Only Way You're Monitored

Last week I had triggered a hard brake event in my truck and received the "coaching" the company requires anytime we have a harsh event. Harsh events include rapid acceleration, hard brake, and stability (taking turns too fast) and I believe one other event that's escaping me at the moment. We do not have cameras in the truck but they still are able to monitor our driving other ways. Here is what was slipped in my locker

"Robert great safety score last week 99% only one blemish - a hard stop. Funny thing you were only doing 29 mph in a 50 mph so speed was not a factor. Not sure what happened. Anyways any questions let me know thanks (VP name withheld)"

They receive an email time stamped with what time this event occurred. They're then able to dissect my speed and speculate on what happened and give the driver an opportunity to discuss it. This is not meant to discipline a driver its meant to help avoid repeating it. They're able to break it down by every second leading up to and even see exactly where it happened on a map. There's a couple things I'm not sure about on that page but the basics is the time (printout doesn't show seconds), location, GPS coordinates and what my speed is. They hypothetically can see exactly where I'm at at any time and what my speed is. This particular day the road was shiny and I was unsure if it was wet or black ice. We had artic weather but I can't remember how cold it was that morning. After witnessing numerous cars running stoplights in the middle of the night in Omaha im much more cautious out there. There was a car that seemed to be going too fast and I didn't think they'd be able to stop so I was already going slower due to possible ice but also anticipating them failing to stop in time. Sure enough they didn't fully stop. That particular road has atleast a dozen stoplights from the interstate until I reach the store with a majority of them flashing yellow for me, while other traffic is flashing red.

They also provided a printout of the satellite view of the location but I forgot to snap a pic of that. I just wanted to share this because far too often someone refuses to work somewhere because they have cameras. Just because you don't have video recording your activity doesn't mean there isn't other technology being utilized to track unsafe behavior.

It escaped Rob's memory:

Harsh events include rapid acceleration, hard brake, and stability (taking turns too fast) and I believe one other event that's escaping me at the moment.

At Swift we have lane departure warnings (move over the white dashed line without a turn signal on will trigger a buzz-strip sound). Too many of them too fast will get you into the office because you must not be paying attention and wandering along the road.

Did that ring a bell, Rob?

Big Brother is ALWAYS watching: ELD, GPS, traffic cameras, cell phones, tracking devices on the trucks or trailers, dash cams, drones, black helicopters, scale houses, onboard cameras....

At Swift we have lane departure warnings (move over the white dashed line without a turn signal on will trigger a buzz-strip sound). Too many of them too fast will get you into the office because you must not be paying attention and wandering along the road.

Did that ring a bell, Rob?

we have the in cab departure warnings but as far as I know its not tracked as some drivers just use the button to disable it because "its annoying". If they just maintained their lane itd be a non factor. Our freightliners you can disable it until you turn the truck off, the Volvo and internationals have a 15 minute timer before it automatically enables again. At PFG I believe if you departed your lane twice within 5 minutes it sent that to the safety department.

I pulled up my logs and apparently it was "rolling stop" that is the other event they track.

Big Brother is ALWAYS watching: ELD, GPS, traffic cameras, cell phones, tracking devices on the trucks or trailers, dash cams, drones, black helicopters, scale houses, onboard cameras....

Prime trucks also have forward collision.

Big Brother is ALWAYS watching: ELD, GPS, traffic cameras, cell phones, tracking devices on the trucks or trailers, dash cams, drones, black helicopters, scale houses, onboard cameras....

Prime trucks also have forward collision.

That must be the same thing in Swift Trucks, following distance. I beeps and flashes a warning if it senses that you are following too closely.

At Swift we have lane departure warnings (move over the white dashed line without a turn signal on will trigger a buzz-strip sound). Too many of them too fast will get you into the office because you must not be paying attention and wandering along the road.

Those lane departure sensors are really sensitive or at least they were in the truck I was in. When I took the ride with G-Town he was totally between the lines in his lane and they still kept going off. He said they pick up the thicker tar strips used to patch the small cracks in the road. I guess safety reviews the forward camera footage and see’s the false warnings

At Swift we have lane departure warnings (move over the white dashed line without a turn signal on will trigger a buzz-strip sound). Too many of them too fast will get you into the office because you must not be paying attention and wandering along the road.

Those lane departure sensors are really sensitive or at least they were in the truck I was in. When I took the ride with G-Town he was totally between the lines in his lane and they still kept going off. He said they pick up the thicker tar strips used to patch the small cracks in the road. I guess safety reviews the forward camera footage and see’s the false warnings

It's not "Safety" that makes the first review. The camera videos are uploaded to a service bureau that has first look. If they see certain things (they are trained for this) , the video is forwarded. But if you are just minding your business, they move on. I was driving on an empty and curvy country road in a Virginia Appalachian valley. The buzz warning would go off every few seconds. I knew the videos one after another were going to be uploaded to that service bureau. I was watching my speed, always looking out the front, and monitoring the mirrors. Both hands on the wheel. Well, I never got called in for continuously "running off the road"! I hope someone enjoyed the ride down a Virginia Country Road

At Swift we have lane departure warnings (move over the white dashed line without a turn signal on will trigger a buzz-strip sound). Too many of them too fast will get you into the office because you must not be paying attention and wandering along the road.

Those lane departure sensors are really sensitive or at least they were in the truck I was in. When I took the ride with G-Town he was totally between the lines in his lane and they still kept going off. He said they pick up the thicker tar strips used to patch the small cracks in the road. I guess safety reviews the forward camera footage and see’s the false warnings

It's not "Safety" that makes the first review. The camera videos are uploaded to a service bureau that has first look. If they see certain things (they are trained for this) , the video is forwarded. But if you are just minding your business, they move on. I was driving on an empty and curvy country road in a Virginia Appalachian valley. The buzz warning would go off every few seconds. I knew the videos one after another were going to be uploaded to that service bureau. I was watching my speed, always looking out the front, and monitoring the mirrors. Both hands on the wheel. Well, I never got called in for continuously "running off the road"! I hope someone enjoyed the ride down a Virginia Country Road

Mine has been going crazy the last few weeks with all of the snow and ice packed in the cracks and crevices of the pavement. It keeps picking it up as painted lines that I am crossing. Driving me crazy. I have to turn off the LDW.

Big Brother is ALWAYS watching: ELD, GPS, traffic cameras, cell phones, tracking devices on the trucks or trailers, dash cams, drones, black helicopters, scale houses, onboard cameras....

Prime trucks also have forward collision.

That must be the same thing in Swift Trucks, following distance. I beeps and flashes a warning if it senses that you are following too closely.

There are two separate warnings. Following too close which is not "bad" driver event. Just a warning. The collision warning flashes red on the dash and may even apply the brakes. Most of the time I don't get a critical event notice on the Qualcomm from a collision warning. The one time it registered a critical event on the Qualcomm I didn't get a call from safety. None of my collision alert events have been valid.