ABF | Driver-facing Cameras

If you're asking me if it's possible for local management to activate a camera at their discretion on a driver, the answer is no. The cameras are only motion activated and only if the forces in the motion exceed a certain acceleration threshold. As to selective viewing, any event that trips the camera is stored and first reviewed by a third party, only those events that violate the law or company policy are sent to a driver coach to be viewed so that the coach can have a one on one sit down with the driver. The only people I've ever seen fired over camera events are those who are caught using a cell phone without a blue tooth. And in that case they have to be caught three times first before they're shown the door. I didn't exactly understand that nature of your questions so I hope you found this response useful. On a positive note, since we've had cameras, we had one driver from my terminal exonerated from a potential lawsuit from a known ambulance chaser who purposely caused an accident with him. One last thing as to the Fourth Amendment. It's my understanding that it as well as the rest of the Bill of Rights is about defining the relationship between the federal govt and the individual, what the federal govt may not do to, do for, take from, impose upon, or otherwise harm the individual. Outside of that, if we agree to work for XPO, we agree to be randomly viewed while operating company equipment. If we had dock cameras it would be the same way and I, in limited capacity when it comes to law do not see any conflicts between cameras at work and the Fourth Amendment.


Thanks for your response. I've heard complaints from my friends that the...motion-activated threshold can be overridden with the flick of a button. Not working there,....I have to go by what they are saying,...taking into account such things as ....potential personal agendas and such.
But,...the rumor I've heard is that,....anyone can be targeted by local management,..by their discretion. It is apparently not the stated application by upper management.
But,....again,.....any "oversight" from upper management may only appear if there's a....clear abuse, of any sort of...Rights a driver may have.

You are right about the Bill of Rights defining a relationship between the Federal Government and an individual. But,....since the Federal Government has established itself as the regulating agency for the trucking industry,...(and just about all other industries..)....
....they have kind of taken ownership over the legality of forced personal surveillance. There are Bills in Congress now,...to rein in Facebook and Instagram,...for personal information gathering.
The issue becomes a...proprietary one. Do you ...."own"...your image? Can you be disciplined by a videotape of your own image? That, right there....sounds like an infringement of your Fifth Amendment rights of Self-Incrimination......in My Opinion.....

Having cameras on the dock,....in a private workplace,.....seems to be a passive sort of surveillance. Everyone on the dock,....supervisors, workers, vendors, visitors,....are viewed,...without singling anyone individually...The deterrent is that.....Everyone is On Camera,.....so,....Act Accordingly.

In the cab of a truck,....the camera is deliberately aimed at a specific person.....And,...in control of the people who can,....hire and fire. I know that the...."selling point"...is that the camera will only "activate"...when a motion threshold is crossed....
We live in an App-driven, technological age,......I think we all know that,....those cameras,...with a minor software change,....can be selectively controlled....
....if they aren't already......

I think it is important for the trucking industry to.......establish when personal surveillance has gone too far, in the workplace....
I also think that,.....since we..(..us citizens..)...are being surveilled in pretty much every public place,....we,...have to establish WHO owns our personal image.
Is it the.....corporate entity who..."collects"...our image? Or, do we OWN our image,...and therefore decide who, where and when our image can be viewed.

Very soon, our personal image may be used for our ...personal identification. I would feel a lot more...secure...knowing my employer hasn't had me..."posing" for my picture throughout my work day.

And,...that I DON'T own that....picture.
 
Today a driver had to put a piece of paper over the camera to get admittance to a military base (was ok’d by Tm before doing)they told him next time it has to be disconnected....

Interesting! Now that I think about it,.....I delivered a lot of power plants, defense installations, prisons,....and other sensitive sites,.....that bar use of cameras of any sort.

And the legal departments of the trucking companies........NOT having any concept of...what truck drivers do to deliver fright....
Have sold this idea of constant driver surveillance....with a camera....
......to limit the company's liability exposure in the event of an accident by casting potential doubt on a driver's actions.

And the dummies forgot.....or just plain didn't know......that truck and drivers access some pretty sensitive places....
......that bar camera use.
 
I took this off another site. they said a driver that was found not a fault for an accident, was fired anyway because after watching the outward facing cameras they found it recorded the reflection off of windshield of the driver holding his phone. This footage has & is being used to terminate drivers
 
I took this off another site. they said a driver that was found not a fault for an accident, was fired anyway because after watching the outward facing cameras they found it recorded the reflection off of windshield of the driver holding his phone. This footage has & is being used to terminate drivers
Doesn’t surprise me one bit.
 
Having any sort of video of a driver is just about perfect for any prosecution lawyer who is able to get a jury trial.....

Your looks,..mannerisms,...personal habits,....articles of dress,......everything......
....will be on trial...

If a prosecutor can convince a jury that the truck driver,....is one of those "road bullies,...who intimidate drivers with the size of their vehicle..."..(..THAT quote is taken from an ambulance-chasing "lawyer" selling his services in a TV commercial..)....

....Then the company can hope for complete exoneration in any lawsuit,...and the driver will take complete responsibility.....

And .....That, in My Opinion,....is the ENTIRE reason the companies want driver-facing cameras.....
 
cover new mobile eld with a hat, put visor down. problem solved.. not tampered with.. have heard of two instances camera on eld used, 1 exhonerated a driver, accident and out of service for only 1 hour, weather related and no other vehicles involved.. the ones that kept a guy fired for weeks.. and 1 incident was fired, reflection in back window caught cell phone in hand.. outcome of that unknown.
 
Today a driver had to put a piece of paper over the camera to get admittance to a military base (was ok’d by Tm before doing)they told him next time it has to be disconnected....

I have a C G friend who was in charge of security on a 240' boat, escorting nuclear subs in and out to sea.
They were not allowed to have cell phones on base, (no cameras or cell phones allowed on sub base at Brunswick Ga.)
 
cover new mobile eld with a hat, put visor down. problem solved.. not tampered with.. have heard of two instances camera on eld used, 1 exhonerated a driver, accident and out of service for only 1 hour, weather related and no other vehicles involved.. the ones that kept a guy fired for weeks.. and 1 incident was fired, reflection in back window caught cell phone in hand.. outcome of that unknown.


It's a mobile ELD......where you place it,...face down, face up.......in a pocket.......

As far as exonerating a driver for.....bad weather......I believe there's a whole channel on TV devoted to distributing weather reports to any management personnel who needs verification that.....weather was a contributing cause,..or even the sole cause.....of an accident.

That........in the trucking industry,......has been standard procedure for....decades. I don't think a live video in a snowstorm/rainstorm/hailstorm....should have anything to do with determining the driver's "guilt".
How about the idiot dispatcher,...who ordered him out in the severe weather? Not even a....little responsibility there?

When we start relying on videos,.....AND the companies' LAWYERS' interpretations of the driver's actions.......instead of training levels , experience, and skills,...AND Good Judgement, based on such.......without management interference with the (much more experienced) driver's judgement of conditions....
.....then we can expect the Trial Lawyers becoming much more important to the trucking industry......

Great.....just what we need,.......More "Deadwood" to pay for........
 
I have a C G friend who was in charge of security on a 240' boat, escorting nuclear subs in and out to sea.
They were not allowed to have cell phones on base, (no cameras or cell phones allowed on sub base at Brunswick Ga.)



Or on the Marine Air Re-Work Base....in Cherry Point, NC. I took a load of windows onto that base during the first Gulf war.....Confiscated my Kodak......
 
It's a mobile ELD......where you place it,...face down, face up.......in a pocket.......

As far as exonerating a driver for.....bad weather......I believe there's a whole channel on TV devoted to distributing weather reports to any management personnel who needs verification that.....weather was a contributing cause,..or even the sole cause.....of an accident.

That........in the trucking industry,......has been standard procedure for....decades. I don't think a live video in a snowstorm/rainstorm/hailstorm....should have anything to do with determining the driver's "guilt".
How about the idiot dispatcher,...who ordered him out in the severe weather? Not even a....little responsibility there?

When we start relying on videos,.....AND the companies' LAWYERS' interpretations of the driver's actions.......instead of training levels , experience, and skills,...AND Good Judgement, based on such.......without management interference with the (much more experienced) driver's judgement of conditions....
.....then we can expect the Trial Lawyers becoming much more important to the trucking industry......

Great.....just what we need,.......More "Deadwood" to pay for........

Yep, wreck that truck, see if the dispatcher gets charged or fired, you should have known better!
I always thought motels were built for truck drivers in need, I guess that's where my handle (Panama Hat Driver) came from.
 
As usual, the law makers didn’t consult anyone that actually had to use these devices on a regular basis. The handheld eld that I used was incorporated with the capability for viewing pickup, deliveries and that sort of thing. It also had a camera that could be used for documenting equipment damage, freight damage and the like.

My route routinely took me, daily mostly, to state and federal correctional facilities as well as military installations. The correctional facility allowed me to keep the device in the truck, I could not take it out of the truck. I had to surrender my personal cell phone at those places.
 
Yep, wreck that truck, see if the dispatcher gets charged or fired, you should have known better!
I always thought motels were built for truck drivers in need, I guess that's where my handle (Panama Hat Driver) came from.
Just curious, did you spend time in Panama
 
Do you.....ummm.........have that in writing?

You’ve been around long enough........Trust’em?
My understanding is the cameras are supposed to be able to retrieve video and audio 20 seconds before an incident and the only way they can do that is if they are constantly recording.If you go on samsara website it says it’s capable of recording 2 40 hour loops if I’m remembering right.
 
My understanding is the cameras are supposed to be able to retrieve video and audio 20 seconds before an incident and the only way they can do that is if they are constantly recording.If you go on samsara website it says it’s capable of recording 2 40 hour loops if I’m remembering right.
Audio is not allowed in certain states. So I would say no on the audio & yes on recoding all day....
 
My understanding is the cameras are supposed to be able to retrieve video and audio 20 seconds before an incident and the only way they can do that is if they are constantly recording.If you go on samsara website it says it’s capable of recording 2 40 hour loops if I’m remembering right.



Yeah,.....I like that........Do they realize how.....Insulting...it is, to tell us they will only record..."20 seconds before an incident"?

We may look stupid,......but that's only because we're worn out from work........No one is stupid enough to accept a "20 seconds before an incident"....explanation.

And,....Once again........Who OWNS your Image? You?....or the people who've recorded you,......?
In the future,...when your face will be your "identification" card...........people who've allowed their employers to capture their image,...will start to worry about someone hacking their employer's files and...Taking their image.

Of course,...Employers will denigrate that idea........We all know how....Wonderful....their Security measures are ......
And the argument will be:...You can't sue your employer for allowing Identity theft,......because YOU didn't own that Image of yourself your employer has in their files......That got hacked........
They Owned it,....Their camera,..Their equipment,...Their files and storage......

I would hope the Teamsters continue their Staunch Opposition to Driver-Facing cameras,.....if for no other reason than privacy, and the ability to refuse to allow your employer to collect your Image.
It's too late for the guys working Employment-At-Will........They've more or less given their consent,...by continuing to work under those conditions....
 
Let’s not forget that as far as recording being triggered by a sudden stop,ect.The sensitivities can be adjusted.Worse scenario,they continue to use,They should have same sensitivity standards that get recorded at every incident .I find more distractions now then ever.Alarms that go off every time you drive under a road your not supposed to be on because gps thinks you’re on the restricted road.
 
How is it possible that a union company is dealing with this while a non doesn’t have driver facing cams? I’m not anti union, but this just makes me scratch my head
 
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