What's new

ODFL | OD vs. Swift

BillyLo

BillyLo

Service 2.0 OD Strong All Time Mastio Champion
Credits
381
You guys notice every time we see a big pile up in the news lately, there's always 1 or 2 OD trucks tangled up in it? I feel we are getting more coverage than Swift the past 2 years.

I know some drivers get caught up in bad situations, but I also wonder if something has to do with all the drivers we've been hiring from school and the docks with our rapid growth also comes to play.
 
Actually, I've noticed that a lot of student drivers are more cautious and careful, but then eventually can grow apathetic and lazy in regard to safety and defensive driving. Generally speaking, the most aggressive drivers I've seen on the roads are the small company guys, O/Os, and other linehaul drivers pulling doubles. A lot of the mega carrier drivers tend to give proper following distance. I've had more problems with other truck drivers being aggressive than 4 wheelers. It's no wonder these pile ups happen. Everybody bunches together and you'd think that some of these commercial drivers never heard of the concept of PROPER FOLLOWING DISTANCE.

I recently bought a dash cam which I have running non-stop in my tractor. It's comforting to know that I have another set of eyes to back me up, just in case. I've had one too many close calls due to the stupidity of other 'professional' commercial drivers. Sad thing is that most of the idiots I've seen on the road at night are the other truck drivers.
 
wawtrucker said:
Actually, I've noticed that a lot of student drivers are more cautious and careful, but then eventually can grow apathetic and lazy in regard to safety and defensive driving. Generally speaking, the most aggressive drivers I've seen on the roads are the small company guys, O/Os, and other linehaul drivers pulling doubles. A lot of the mega carrier drivers tend to give proper following distance. I've had more problems with other truck drivers being aggressive than 4 wheelers. It's no wonder these pile ups happen. Everybody bunches together and you'd think that some of these commercial drivers never heard of the concept of PROPER FOLLOWING DISTANCE.

I recently bought a dash cam which I have running non-stop in my tractor. It's comforting to know that I have another set of eyes to back me up, just in case. I've had one too many close calls due to the stupidity of other 'professional' commercial drivers. Sad thing is that most of the idiots I've seen on the road at night are the other truck drivers.
Click to expand...
Amen brother...Been thinking of one for several year's.
 
I began using a dashcam during the Holidays. Had a couple of near misses that wouldn't have been my fault and I decided I couldn't trust others to determine that. Based on all the videos you see from overseas, doesn't seem like it could be bad for us to use. Just don't point in one in my face, no one needs to see nose picking jk.
 
wawtrucker said:
Actually, I've noticed that a lot of student drivers are more cautious and careful, but then eventually can grow apathetic and lazy in regard to safety and defensive driving. Generally speaking, the most aggressive drivers I've seen on the roads are the small company guys, O/Os, and other linehaul drivers pulling doubles. A lot of the mega carrier drivers tend to give proper following distance. I've had more problems with other truck drivers being aggressive than 4 wheelers. It's no wonder these pile ups happen. Everybody bunches together and you'd think that some of these commercial drivers never heard of the concept of PROPER FOLLOWING DISTANCE.

I recently bought a dash cam which I have running non-stop in my tractor. It's comforting to know that I have another set of eyes to back me up, just in case. I've had one too many close calls due to the stupidity of other 'professional' commercial drivers. Sad thing is that most of the idiots I've seen on the road at night are the other truck drivers.
Click to expand...
I know the GBO school students are very careful. My son and his friend that graduated in same class are very cautious. I was worried about my son because he was a pretty wild driver before but talking to him and seeing him operate his OD truck i was amazed. JR did a great job teaching these guys the proper and safe way to drive a truck. As a father of a trucker i feel at ease now.I will put our graduates up against anyone else.
 
kenneth said:
Big Bird has got a response on this ? from Sam Fauchette ..I don't have exact reply.But,if my memory serves me right.I believe that OD has nothing in writing on dash cam's.They just not suppose to be mount'd in wiper area or any area that obstruct's the driver's view.
Click to expand...
correct, it cant obstruct your view in anyway, the official ruling would most likely be they do not approve or disapprove of dash cams at present
 
beyondtheflames said:
I wouldn't worry about purchasing a dash cam. OD may or may not have already starting installing these.
Click to expand...

They have cameras installed on some Volvos, not the Freightliners. I like my dash cam because it runs non stop and I can manually hit a button that will start saving the recordings for 4 minutes before and 4 minutes after the manual save, besides having its own event detection recorder. Also, not sure how clear the company's cameras are for night time recording. Mine records in HD at 1080, and the night time footage looks great. Detailed enough to zoom in w/ software and read license plates.
 
bigbird42368 said:
correct, it cant obstruct your view in anyway, the official ruling would most likely be they do not approve or disapprove of dash cams at present
Click to expand...

Sounds about right. They're probably more concerned with drivers recording themselves or trying to make YouTube videos. Cameras set for recording outside, meaning pointed out the windshield, are probably tolerated. As long as anything isn't deemed a distraction, I'd imagine it's OK.

Remember, company policy on headsets? That's a no go, but you see drivers walking around like the Borg.
 
wawtrucker said:
They have cameras installed on some Volvos, not the Freightliners. I like my dash cam because it runs non stop and I can manually hit a button that will start saving the recordings for 4 minutes before and 4 minutes after the manual save, besides having its own event detection recorder. Also, not sure how clear the company's cameras are for night time recording. Mine records in HD at 1080, and the night time footage looks great. Detailed enough to zoom in w/ software and read license plates.
Click to expand...
Completely not true. They're in the Freightliners too.
 
I can't get a clear answer, so the Lane Departure does act as a recording camera? I've seen safety going over driver's ping's on the computer when they had a big wreck, but never hear them talk about video footage.
 
beyondtheflames said:
Completely not true. They're in the Freightliners too.
Click to expand...

I"m repeating what another driver told me that our safety guy said. During their training class, footage was taken from a Volvo because the Cascadias don't have cameras. Perhaps that's just our barn ... I don't know. I'm just repeating what he told me, perhaps he's mistaken.
 
Lane departure shows 9 seconds before and 9 seconds after an event trips it. We saw several different clips in class. They're emailed immediately to a certain group of people in a mailing list. I don't believe they are 'big brother' with streaming videos from the gray lane departure 'eye' on the windshield. I'm guessing a certain amount of time, maybe 10 or 15 seconds is saved somehow to the Blu device but is overwritten constantly by new footage to allow for the event recording to occur. A dash cam would've came in handy for me near ARB early yesterday morning. I had some dude in a work van drift over two and a half lanes in to mine pushing me halfway on the shoulder. I didn't want to brake hard since the roads had a decent covering of snow and it took a few hits from the air horn before he he decided to go back to his side of the road. I recall the manual saying no recording devices in the trucks but it doesn't specify if it's to prohibit people recording themselves or if it is a ban on any type of equipment.

Some dummy had put tape on the Blu 2 in the truck I took out this week and left residue all over the section he'd taped over. I'm assuming he thinks the sensor thingamajig on the upper left corner is a camera pointing at him. I wish I knew who it is in GBO who keeps putting tape over every light on the gauge cluster, the radio display, and on Blu. I'd like to wrap a round or two of that tape around their head. The desire to tape everything is their biz but leaving the sticky residue all over everything for me to clean up drives me crazy. I can't stand driving a truck with junk that isn't supposed to be there and is in my FOV!
 
more trucks on the road = more accidents, plain and simple, both o.d. and swift. as far as the dashcams and headsets, i think they're "not allowed" only when something happens. try sending dashcam footage to safety after an incident, they'll view it as a distraction. same with the headsets. i was grilled about being being on the phone (which i was not) when a car spun out and hit my trailer. if i had been, would that be a violation of policy making me distracted and the accident preventable?
 
I think this whole thread is a joke. A couple pics and all of a sudden we're driving for swift? Bitchin bout smoking in a truck, cameras in a truck, headsets while in a truck, team driver crossing fhe country without radio? Sounds like swift to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top