I drive an 18 wheeler over the road. A few months ago my company installed two cameras in my truck. One aims forward, and shows what is happening on the road ahead.
The other aims into the cab, and is on me. 24 hours a day. Complete with audio.

I do not like the camera in the truck. I have been here 4 years, no wrecks, no tickets. Just had a big argument with a nerd in the Safety Dept., told him I wish I worked for a company that did not have cameras in the truck.

Is that legal under your state's workplace rules? Is it legal in the states you are passing through with your truck? Why are you still working for that company?

How well is that camera located with regards to use as a hat or coat hook?

I get the one looking forward, but being recorded 24/7 would drive me nuts.

No way I could deal with that. How's a guy supposed to pick his nose for cryin out loud?

Yeah, one pointing backwards at me would be enough to drive me to look for other work. Especially with your driving record, hopefully that wouldn't be difficult.

Be interesting to see how that affects future hires.

How are they supposed to pee in a bottle and pitch it out the window?

Everything is CYA for Companies anymore. The Insurance Co's are auditing for safety records, safety procedures and the cameras are used to get the trucking co's off the hook if there are accidents. The drivers are GPS tracked as well. I sure would not want a camera on me 24/7. Dash cams are bad enough but inside is BS.

I wanted my one dash can when I drove to cover my tail but they were to expensive back then.

The camera watching me all the time would be a deal breaker. There are to many trucking companies out there to put up with that crap.

Insurance lobby is way out of control.

I had 3 on the bus, none were pointed out.

Got no problem them knowing what I am doing when in the drivers seat, but I lived in the cab of a truck for up to two months at a time. They don't need to watch me change my underwear.

Well, it really bothers me.
I have to work here until April, when I will take an 8 month leave of absence, to build a log cabin.
So, while I am off work I am going to dig around for another job. I really like working here, so I am not sure what I will do.
I am 64, am only going to drive for 2 more years.

There are a quarter million job openings nationwide in trucking, with my good record I could easily get another job.

There are jobs delivering new tractors for Freightliner and such. I looked hard at one where you fly to Texas and pick up between one and four tractors then deliver and fly back. Every night is a hotel on a company card and you got to keep all your air miles. Some of those runs paid really nice and you never drive a beater. Runs were all over US and Canada.

I decided to stay retired but I wished I had found that company years ago.

We demand the same on all of the vehicles that transport us around. They also have key systems in each that ties the driver to all of the vehicle data, hours driven, location, speed, red light stops, unauthorized roads, etc. Works great and keeps us safe.

Do you get to watch the drive change underwear Ed?

We have them in our parts delivery vehicles. If you accelerate, brake, turn to fast or hit a bump to fast they automatically take a 8 second before and after snapshot of the event and email it to the safety department. They review it and decide if it a punishable event. They suck and I dont drive our rigs if I dont have to. I can see insurance requiring them in all commercial vehicles eventually.

OK, that one made me laugh. Eyeball, you're officially alright by me for 2015, unless and until you make a post I disagree with.

Sycamore

Our cameras do like you said, 7mm. If the computer senses a "critical event" such as hard braking, hitting a big bump, having a crash etc, it sends a video back 10 seconds, and foreward 10 seconds, to headquarters.

So, supposedly when you are sitting there parked, like I am now, nothing is being sent back to hq. Just to be safe there is a piece of duct tape on the camera right now.

Does every truck have a camera in it?

If not, and given your clean driving record there is a good chance that you are being used as the benchmark, that is to say that the company's ins wanted the cameras in trucks to observe driving habits, so your company "cherry picked" it's good drivers. The company I drive for part time did this. I threw a huge bitch about the voice recording as it is illegal under Pa law to audio record without written consent.

Sucks but you can do anything for 2 more years...

Those are the same ones we had....

I can honestly say I have never done that. The practice is revolting.

I agree, and like anything, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil everyone's reputation. As hunters and gun-owners, we know that.


Sycamore

Yes we do.

It's gotta have a fuse or circuit breaker to it.

Throw ball cap over and cut the mic wire.

gitem it is interesting you should say that. My company has 700 trucks, yet only 10 have cameras. I am one of the best drivers in the fleet.
Very interesting, perhaps they cherry picked the top drivers, to mollify the insurance company.

K1500 yes you are right, you can do anything for 2 years. Other than the GD camera this is a great company. Mostly I run from Greenville SC to Laredo Tx. Very very little ice and snow, and traffic not too bad.
You get on with another company, they start sending you to LA and the godforsaken traffic, or, they start sending you to Camden NJ in January in the sleet and snow, massive crime and traffic from hell, you would begin to wish you were driving across the central Texas desert with a camera in your face.

It would be affordable for the cameras and GPS to record your every move and detect all that and more like when you go over the speed limit.

Qualcomm already records all that. My boss could punch me up on her computer and see where I was, speed, rpm, and gear. A download would show all that data and more for a year at a time.

They probably know you.


You change your underwear? Knew I was forgetting something.

Tom

In my industry, we have had the cameras looking out front for years. I love 'em. Thinking of getting one for my own vehicles. They have killed more frivolous lawsuits than I can count, many of them before they ever hit the courts. I have personally been saved from "eye witness" lies and misperceptions by the nose camera more than once.

The inward-facing camera, I'm not so keen on. But I'm fearing it less all the time, for similar reasons. If recording and accessing the data is restricted to triggering events, they can be very useful - and abuse can be limited....I think. The contract carrier that I ride with every day has them, and even their bottom-of-the-barrel drivers rarely get fired - so at least that company must be practicing some discretion with the cameras.

I have had the pleasure of watching a short video from one of these inward-facing cameras during a safety presentation. The driver could be seen dozing off several times before going clear out and then rolling the vehicle (fatally). Two points driven home by that video.....1) don't be that guy, and 2) if a company sees repeated evidence of sleep-deprivation problems, maybe....just maybe....some corrective action might ensue.

What they look for with ours is if there is a critical event if you were Talking on phone,texting- smoking drinking or eating, wearing a seat belt, paying attention. The cameras are quite good. They can tell how often you check you mirrors and if you are following to close. If you are caught blocking or unhooking the cameras it is automatic termination.

I got nabbed last week for not wearing a seatbelt. Had to stop for a redlight and made camera go off. Once i stopped I looked up to see if redlight on camera was on and said F--k. When they wrote me up for it they showed me the film I thought it was kinda funny. They wanted to know why I didnt buckle up once I knew I was caught and I told them whats the use at that point.

If we get 2 write ups in 3 months we lose our driving privileges and will be moved to a position that dont require driving which my position is supposed to be anyway. I can see why they do it as it has helped to prove fault but I dont like the invasion of privacy.

I have a camera in the 'truck' but it's reserved for recording singing to the dog.

Ours record all the time so we have to jump start the trucks every moring when it gets cold cause it drains the batteries. They kept putting batteries in the trucks when they werent even two weeks old. I finally explained to them that the cameras were running them down and the trucks werent running long enough to keep them properly charged. They unhooked them a couple of nights and found that I was right. They are now in the process of reprogramming the cameras so they stop recording at night unless they are being driven.

It took 'them' more than one night to figure that out?!


Holy chit.