TODAY i actual spoke to a lorry driver the first since 2002, he was delivering milk to our local mini supermarket , he was driving what I thought was an offshoot of the RENAULT MAGNUM and it was he was not English, however, we had a good yarn, i was interested in the workings drivers card as I had never seen one,he could not take it out. I then notice what looked like c.c.tv.camera above the passenger door , i asked what it was , it seems through wifi, his office can monitor all his movements, i could not believe it that companies go that far to watch their drivers.is this the new modern driver’s life viewed by all.dbp
I start a new job on Monday in Sheffield I the company I start with all there new trucks all have onboard CCTV I’ll not be there for long its just a means to an end
Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
Some companies will think this is worthwhile due to the many horrendous collisions and deaths to other road users due to so called professional drivers texting, watching videos or falling asleep at the wheel because of drink. Lets face it if the profession is let down by people like this I’d feel better knowing when out with my grandkids in the car that the heavy vehicles on the road today are safer to be around because the drivers are being watched.
Frankydobo:
. Lets face it if the profession is let down by people like this I’d feel better knowing when out with my grandkids in the car that the heavy vehicles on the road today are safer to be around because the drivers are being watched.
In that case it should apply to all vehicles…At the other end of the spectrum, a 17 year old drugged up / drunk idiot in a Vauxhall Nova can take a family out…
It’s only my opinion but I think this is a case of one step to far.I am an owner driver and I have a forward facing camera just in case I am involved in an accident but the thought of cameras in the cab watching my every move would be too much for me people would say if you have nothing to hide what is the problem but dare I say It I still like to eat an apple or take a swig of drink while driving and the last thing I would wont is the office phoning up and giving me grief.In these days of health and safety I know what I do is wrong but it seems the days of common sense are long gone for me if it ever came to me having to fit these cameras to my lorry it would be time to pack the job in
Just cover them when on break or resting.Sad pathetic times these are.
peggydeckboy:
TODAY i actual spoke to a lorry driver the first since 2002, he was delivering milk to our local mini supermarket , he was driving what I thought was an offshoot of the RENAULT MAGNUM and it was he was not English, however, we had a good yarn, i was interested in the workings drivers card as I had never seen one,he could not take it out. I then notice what looked like c.c.tv.camera above the passenger door , i asked what it was , it seems through wifi, his office can monitor all his movements, i could not believe it that companies go that far to watch their drivers.is this the new modern driver’s life viewed by all.dbp
He was not English, and there lies the problem these EE’s with there Mickey Mouse licences ■■■■■■ up incompetent driving has brought this about company’s are getting so much damage and being involved in accidents they are covering themselves against prosecution etc and put the blame at the drivers door. You could say who blames them but there the ones employing all these idiots because they’ll work for peanuts this industry is only going one way and it ain’t a good direction. Although it’s mostly the big logistics players not decent small company’s that are doing it.
Rant over
robthedog:
peggydeckboy:
TODAY i actual spoke to a lorry driver the first since 2002, he was delivering milk to our local mini supermarket , he was driving what I thought was an offshoot of the RENAULT MAGNUM and it was he was not English, however, we had a good yarn, i was interested in the workings drivers card as I had never seen one,he could not take it out. I then notice what looked like c.c.tv.camera above the passenger door , i asked what it was , it seems through wifi, his office can monitor all his movements, i could not believe it that companies go that far to watch their drivers.is this the new modern driver’s life viewed by all.dbpHe was not English, and there lies the problem these EE’s with there Mickey Mouse licences ■■■■■■ up incompetent driving has brought this about company’s are getting so much damage and being involved in accidents they are covering themselves against prosecution etc and put the blame at the drivers door. You could say who blames them but there the ones employing all these idiots because they’ll work for peanuts this industry is only going one way and it ain’t a good direction. Although it’s mostly the big logistics players not decent small company’s that are doing it.
Rant over
I agree with your comments i wonder if there is wider conscientious within the transport industry, maybe a government trial, were they part of the cabs fit-out by the manufacturing company that such an intrusive camera is needed is it INSURANCE based.
If it was introduced within my driving time i know what would have happened to the camera tachos were fiddled, fuses adjusted, im sure cameras would have been easy…
As a comment on 17-year old etc,my own grandson first car ,17 years old caught doing 50mph in a 30, not in a built-up housing area in the countryside,over 1 year before the court case,he was finned £500 , lost his license", must take driving lessons", also his "theory test again. yes justice,he will not do it again.
i will have to remember when i am doing 80 plus on the A34 and most duel track.so yes i am just as bad at75.
Surely having a camera monitoring a drivers every movement is not law,but the vehicle owners requirement,if drivers refuse to drive vehicles with such a camera,they would be swiftly removed.
David
peggydeckboy:
I agree with your comments i wonder if there is wider conscientious within the transport industry, maybe a government trial, were they part of the cabs fit-out by the manufacturing company that such an intrusive camera is needed is it INSURANCE based.
If it was introduced within my driving time i know what would have happened to the camera tachos were fiddled, fuses adjusted, im sure cameras would have been easy…As a comment on 17-year old etc,my own grandson first car ,17 years old caught doing 50mph in a 30, not in a built-up housing area in the countryside,over 1 year before the court case,he was finned £500 , lost his license", must take driving lessons", also his "theory test again. yes justice,he will not do it again.
i will have to remember when i am doing 80 plus on the A34 and most duel track.so yes i am just as bad at75.
Nothing wrong in being 75 peckydeckboy,I’m heading near that direction too!!!
David
5thwheel:
Surely having a camera monitoring a drivers every movement is not law,but the vehicle owners requirement,if drivers refuse to drive vehicles with such a camera,they would be swiftly removed.David
There is a lot of mis-information spouted about driver facing cameras. Yes they do record continuously but they are not monitored by traffic office personnel, or anyone else for that matter, staring at screens all day. Think about that for a moment. If there is an incident that causes a trigger as it is called, such as sharp braking, a sudden swerve etc. then a 4 second clip before the incident is stored and flagged up on the forward facing camera, as well as the driver facing camera. I have had these triggers sent to me and they can be caused by several things, and quite often the driver is blameless because someone in front was driving like an idiot. Conversely, the driver can be at fault, such as following too closely, mobile phone usage, texting even. When I have shown the clips to the driver involved then without exception they hold their hands up and realise why and how they were at fault. The last driver I went through it with is 60 years old, 38 years experience as an LGV Class One driver, and he admitted to having developed a habit of driving too closely to the vehicle in front. Since then, about 8 weeks ago, no more camera triggers from him.
There is nothing illegal about cameras monitoring employees or the general public. Go down any main street, go into any supermarket, shop, or pub even and you’re on camera. Incidentally, the computer recording our company drivers is 5,000 miles away from the main office, so do you think that the office staff there are remotely interested in watching a driver in the UK continuously? As we tell drivers, if you can prove that you are observed for every minute you are on shift then sue us for being given wrong information.
On a final point it is becoming increasingly likely that a company that doesn’t have forward facing and driver facing cameras won’t get insurance. Their only other option will be to self-insure and very few companies can afford to put the money for that into the legal bond.
And yes I do agree that it should never have come to this in our industry, but we all know the reasons why. It’s a stark choice, either adapt or get out.
gingerfold:
5thwheel:
Surely having a camera monitoring a drivers every movement is not law,but the vehicle owners requirement,if drivers refuse to drive vehicles with such a camera,they would be swiftly removed.David
There is a lot of mis-information spouted about driver facing cameras. Yes they do record continuously but they are not monitored by traffic office personnel, or anyone else for that matter, staring at screens all day. Think about that for a moment. If there is an incident that causes a trigger as it is called, such as sharp braking, a sudden swerve etc. then a 4 second clip before the incident is stored and flagged up on the forward facing camera, as well as the driver facing camera. I have had these triggers sent to me and they can be caused by several things, and quite often the driver is blameless because someone in front was driving like an idiot. Conversely, the driver can be at fault, such as following too closely, mobile phone usage, texting even. When I have shown the clips to the driver involved then without exception they hold their hands up and realise why and how they were at fault. The last driver I went through it with is 60 years old, 38 years experience as an LGV Class One driver, and he admitted to having developed a habit of driving too closely to the vehicle in front. Since then, about 8 weeks ago, no more camera triggers from him.
There is nothing illegal about cameras monitoring employees or the general public. Go down any main street, go into any supermarket, shop, or pub even and you’re on camera. Incidentally, the computer recording our company drivers is 5,000 miles away from the main office, so do you think that the office staff there are remotely interested in watching a driver in the UK continuously? As we tell drivers, if you can prove that you are observed for every minute you are on shift then sue us for being given wrong information.
On a final point it is becoming increasingly likely that a company that doesn’t have forward facing and driver facing cameras won’t get insurance. Their only other option will be to self-insure and very few companies can afford to put the money for that into the legal bond.
And yes I do agree that it should never have come to this in our industry, but we all know the reasons why. It’s a stark choice, either adapt or get out.
I wouldn’t like a camera trained on me whilst I was occupying the cab,driving or resting,perhaps I could get accustomed to being watched whenever the company chose to so do,but I doubt it.
David
A sobering tale of dashcams. Bertschi UK have a 50 mph speed limit and forward facing dashcams. Last year one of their drivers who happened to be Polish although living in the UK was involved in a head on fatality crash on a main A road. THREE car drivers had said that he had been driving on the wrong side of the road, so driver was arrested on suspicion of causing the fatality.
The transport manager had to travel to the police with the software for downloading and witnessing of the footage. The footage showed that the driver well before the accident and up to the accident did not infringe or break any laws of the road and never was on the wrong side of the road. I have seen the footage and it is shocking to say the least, fast moving line of traffic travelling the other way when a car just swerves out into the lorries path, there is not any time to brake or avoid, or even blink for that matter.
It was a big car think A5 Audi, the impact sheared the 5th wheel from the chassis! Obviously the charges were dropped for the driver as he was innocent, although traumatised by the incident.
Transport manager did ask what would happen about the three car drivers who had lied, the polices response was probably nothing as the general public tend not too like lorries!!
Also later on in the week the council tried to charge Bertschi for the road closure and subsequent resurfacing of said road, as they were trying to say it was their fault !!
jshepguis:
A sobering tale of dashcams. Bertschi UK have a 50 mph speed limit and forward facing dashcams. Last year one of their drivers who happened to be Polish although living in the UK was involved in a head on fatality crash on a main A road. THREE car drivers had said that he had been driving on the wrong side of the road, so driver was arrested on suspicion of causing the fatality.
The transport manager had to travel to the police with the software for downloading and witnessing of the footage. The footage showed that the driver well before the accident and up to the accident did not infringe or break any laws of the road and never was on the wrong side of the road. I have seen the footage and it is shocking to say the least, fast moving line of traffic travelling the other way when a car just swerves out into the lorries path, there is not any time to brake or avoid, or even blink for that matter.
It was a big car think A5 Audi, the impact sheared the 5th wheel from the chassis! Obviously the charges were dropped for the driver as he was innocent, although traumatised by the incident.
Transport manager did ask what would happen about the three car drivers who had lied, the polices response was probably nothing as the general public tend not too like lorries!!
Also later on in the week the council tried to charge Bertschi for the road closure and subsequent resurfacing of said road, as they were trying to say it was their fault !!
Dash cams are a good idea,not so driver facing camera’s.
David
Them cab cameras are switched off when parking up my mate got one it activates when engine starts and knocks off when he parks up it sends signals back to base where they control them
smallcoal:
Them cab cameras are switched off when parking up my mate got one it activates when engine starts and knocks off when he parks up it sends signals back to base where they control them
I’d still be tempted to hang my jacket over the thing, when the vehicle is not moving!
Somewhere else on here, someone said he knew of a driver who was sacked for picking up his mobile phone, then putting it down on another part of the cab. Maybe there were additional, undisclosed circumstances, but there is certainly scope for the cameras to be misused by rotten employers. I bet the full footage can be obtained. Then it is only a matter of watching for however many offences of adjusting the radio, swigging from a bottle, checking the screen of a mobile phone for notifications of missed calls, eating an apple, whatever, to fabricate disciplinary action.
Have a Jodrell and then sue 'em for voyeurism 
R
Well varied comments indeed and as the company I started and now run by my two sons they have in the last year fitted dash cams and ones that look down the sides of the truck and trailer and this gives a very good insight to any accidents and is invaluable for aiding insurance claims as has been said it is invariably the truck that gets the blame, right or wrong you have hard evidence.
In todays vehicles and we run Scania’s they are totally reliant on a computer but at the press of a button the lads in the office can tell where a truck is, how fast it is going, when it started moving anywhere within ten yards any where in Europe also it tells the office fridge temperatures and exactly what fuel passes through the engine of the truck so no free dinners by plussing at the pumps as in the old days.
Technology has moved the industry forward no doubt but there is one failure as you need a computer to fix any problems unlike years ago when the driver could usually make a temp fix to get home.
One last thing of note as drivers were mentioned earlier, after having Sunday lunch my son was catching up with business on a laptop and mentioned that he had an influx of enquiries for driver positions something which has not happened in some time and apparently this is because of coronavirus as a lot of container drivers and others have no work as trade drops off especially from China, food for thought, Buzzer
[zb]
anorak:smallcoal:
Them cab cameras are switched off when parking up my mate got one it activates when engine starts and knocks off when he parks up it sends signals back to base where they control themI’d still be tempted to hang my jacket over the thing, when the vehicle is not moving!
Somewhere else on here, someone said he knew of a driver who was sacked for picking up his mobile phone, then putting it down on another part of the cab. Maybe there were additional, undisclosed circumstances, but there is certainly scope for the cameras to be misused by rotten employers. I bet the full footage can be obtained. Then it is only a matter of watching for however many offences of adjusting the radio, swigging from a bottle, checking the screen of a mobile phone for notifications of missed calls, eating an apple, whatever, to fabricate disciplinary action.
I will add that in the company I work for only depot managers, their senior transport manager, (if there is one), and the safety manager at head office have access to the triggered recordings. Junior traffic office personnel cannot view them. When an incident is flagged up to me I view it and decide whether, or not, to take the incident up with the driver. Even though the company has grown massively in the 30 years since I first worked for it there are still a few drivers here who started before me and they have adapted to all the modern technology.