Drive Cam (avoiding an unavoidable)

wiggletrain

TB Lurker
Credits
0
Turn your sound down; those dang cameras have pretty good receiving speakers. :censored2:

[video=youtube_share;eRhEb0iquw8]http://youtu.be/eRhEb0iquw8[/video]

These things watch us all day long. They don't bother me anymore, but it is interesting to see the things that will set them off in one truck and won't in another.

This one I was a mile or so from the warehouse. Empty and done. Saturday traffic, at the point where two freeways split off to their own ways. The guy in the lane next to me apparently thought he needed over IN FRONT of me pretty badly. He cut me off; which is no big deal normally, it happens all the time, but this time he also slammed on his brakes as soon as he got in front of me.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if we connected until he sped back up and pulled away. He's so close that my supervisor couldn't tell what happened, he couldn't see the guys brake lights even.

The video is in my file now, DrivCam said I was following too closely (I think they called it at 2.75sec) but my supervisor said he wanted to get it in my file because it's labeled " avoided and unavoidable accident"
 
I don't know if it came from corporate but US Foods Dallas' policy says no eating, no drinking,no smoking, no chew, no blue tooth,no use of GPS or phone, ect... while vehicle is in motion. One driver was told not to get caught spitting sunflower seeds in a cup or it would be a violation. This should be nice on those 250+ miles before your first stop.
 
That's true. Funny; when I applied at Sysco and was not impressed with the fact that our trucks are automatics, I was told, by my now boss, that I would appreciate it one day; that it's nice to be able to drive down the road and hold your coffee in one hand while just driving with the other. Now we can be sent packing for almost anything the camera catches. Well, once they clear it through the union...

Right now our camera policy is only in the "coaching" stage because the union hasn't approved it for disciplinary purposes... but that can quickly change with as much as Sysco can get away with by skirting the contract. Way I see it, if we're doing nothing wrong, the cameras are our friends...
 
That's true. Funny; when I applied at Sysco and was not impressed with the fact that our trucks are automatics, I was told, by my now boss, that I would appreciate it one day; that it's nice to be able to drive down the road and hold your coffee in one hand while just driving with the other. Now we can be sent packing for almost anything the camera catches. Well, once they clear it through the union...

Right now our camera policy is only in the "coaching" stage because the union hasn't approved it for disciplinary purposes... but that can quickly change with as much as Sysco can get away with by skirting the contract. Way I see it, if we're doing nothing wrong, the cameras are our friends...

Very true in the last sentence, I actually like the cameras now, we are allowed to drink and eat, Sysco OK. Good job WT, you avoided a bad situation, Ted Ward posted something similar and it got him a gift card and an attaboy! These things saved one of our shuttle guys rear, I'm all about them.
 
Nice job WT. Ii still think the cameras are a joke and syscos policy saying you cant eat or drink is BS. I'm sorry but I'm not going to drive a couple hrs with nothing to drink. If I'm hungry and want to snack I will. These big corporate companies are getting to be to controlling in my opinion. I'm glad I quit Apperts when I did.
 
To that I agree, Moneyman... I snack all day long. Hell, if I do stop for my break it's to either take a nap or pick up groceries for the evening, lol. My lunch is eaten between stops. So far we have not, like I said, been able to be disciplined for the cameras, only coached, but our contract isn't up for quite a while and that will surely come up with it. My hopes are that the cameras continue to be used for what they should be, to save our butts when needed.
 
According to our union prez, this camera issue has never been presented to him, the supervisor says it has, but if he says it hasn't then it hasn't come across his desk far as I'm concerned, basically that means that as long as its legal, for instance blue tooth, then they can't discipline us and if they try we can get it reversed, the union has to sign off on anything they put in the trucks that could lead to us getting in trouble.
 
Turn your sound down; those dang cameras have pretty good receiving speakers. :censored2:

[video=youtube_share;eRhEb0iquw8]http://youtu.be/eRhEb0iquw8[/video]

These things watch us all day long. They don't bother me anymore, but it is interesting to see the things that will set them off in one truck and won't in another.

This one I was a mile or so from the warehouse. Empty and done. Saturday traffic, at the point where two freeways split off to their own ways. The guy in the lane next to me apparently thought he needed over IN FRONT of me pretty badly. He cut me off; which is no big deal normally, it happens all the time, but this time he also slammed on his brakes as soon as he got in front of me.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if we connected until he sped back up and pulled away. He's so close that my supervisor couldn't tell what happened, he couldn't see the guys brake lights even.

The video is in my file now, DrivCam said I was following too closely (I think they called it at 2.75sec) but my supervisor said he wanted to get it in my file because it's labeled " avoided and unavoidable accident"

Wow, your a real potty mouth! ;) Is that a sterling? We have a few, they aren't bad trucks, you need to adjust your attitude missy! I'm gonna tell David he needs to have a talk with you!

Your out of uniform too, thats a letter!
 
I'm still laughing at the drivers comment, exactly what I might have said! I am glad the professional driver avoided an accident.
 
I watched it twice and gonna be a third. Giggle every time lol. Good job. My windshield hears a lot of very bad words.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Just another dick in a four wheeler. Good job to the driver ! As far as the whole "coaching" thing re: DriveCam. Our contract expires in 5 months and the company (Linde Group) has already put the drivers (and the IBT) on notice they want a point system. Even for "bump video's". For each video we get so many points. Too many points and it's bye bye..And what is our illustrious Local 986 response ? "Huh" ? ".well it's their trucks" yadayada..So much for that completely over rated Teamster Power eh ? Like I posted previously, it all starts out nice, but then quickly disintegrates into discipline. It's not about safety..It's all about control and intimidation. Our driver turnover has gone from basically nothing to probably 30% a year with the advent of DriveCam. Nobody wants to put up with this crap. If I can make it just 12 months, I can retire. But who knows ? Good luck with that coaching thing. It will change very shortly.
 
Just another dick in a four wheeler. Good job to the driver ! As far as the whole "coaching" thing re: DriveCam. Our contract expires in 5 months and the company (Linde Group) has already put the drivers (and the IBT) on notice they want a point system. Even for "bump video's". For each video we get so many points. Too many points and it's bye bye..And what is our illustrious Local 986 response ? "Huh" ? ".well it's their trucks" yadayada..So much for that completely over rated Teamster Power eh ? Like I posted previously, it all starts out nice, but then quickly disintegrates into discipline. It's not about safety..It's all about control and intimidation. Our driver turnover has gone from basically nothing to probably 30% a year with the advent of DriveCam. Nobody wants to put up with this crap. If I can make it just 12 months, I can retire. But who knows ? Good luck with that coaching thing. It will change very shortly.

I may very well have a different view point than most people on drive cams, but oh we'll! I started using my own dash cam 7-8 years ago, when I worked for the worlds largest delivery company, (who I believe you worked for too). This company would fire an innocent driver involved in an accident on the spot. The Union would then have to fight to get the driver his job back, usually without back pay. I use the camera to protect my safe driving record and thankfully i have not needed it yet. Everyone has a different memory of the same situation, but the camera does not lie. I look at it as another form of insurance in the event of an accident, which I hope won't ever happen to me but if it does it will be someone else's fault. As far as the Teamster Power, your Union is only as strong as its members. If you don't like what is proposed in your next contract, you need to get more involved and try to effect change!
 
Just another dick in a four wheeler. Good job to the driver ! As far as the whole "coaching" thing re: DriveCam. Our contract expires in 5 months and the company (Linde Group) has already put the drivers (and the IBT) on notice they want a point system. Even for "bump video's". For each video we get so many points. Too many points and it's bye bye..And what is our illustrious Local 986 response ? "Huh" ? ".well it's their trucks" yadayada..So much for that completely over rated Teamster Power eh ? Like I posted previously, it all starts out nice, but then quickly disintegrates into discipline. It's not about safety..It's all about control and intimidation. Our driver turnover has gone from basically nothing to probably 30% a year with the advent of DriveCam. Nobody wants to put up with this crap. If I can make it just 12 months, I can retire. But who knows ? Good luck with that coaching thing. It will change very shortly.
That makes no sense at all! Why would the company want to give you points for something you can not control, such as a dip in the road? I can understand if your constantly setting the thing off by popping the clutch or crappy shifting and hard breaking on a regular basis, thats not taking care of the company equipment and being careless, there are some events that set the camera off that are beyond the drivers control and are harmless.

I like having the camera, I didn't like it at first but it has grown on me. What I don't like is once the thing is set off and its a downloadable event that light turns red and it is obnoxious at night, way brighter than the green light, I always see it out the corner of my eye and its a little distracting.
 
I may very well have a different view point than most people on drive cams, but oh we'll! I started using my own dash cam 7-8 years ago, when I worked for the worlds largest delivery company, (who I believe you worked for too). This company would fire an innocent driver involved in an accident on the spot. The Union would then have to fight to get the driver his job back, usually without back pay. I use the camera to protect my safe driving record and thankfully i have not needed it yet. Everyone has a different memory of the same situation, but the camera does not lie. I look at it as another form of insurance in the event of an accident, which I hope won't ever happen to me but if it does it will be someone else's fault. As far as the Teamster Power, your Union is only as strong as its members. If you don't like what is proposed in your next contract, you need to get more involved and try to effect change!

Yes, your right. I spent close to 30 years working for that "world's largest delivery company". And I know EXACTLY what you mean about the management at that place. But, at Brown, your protection against wrongful termination was pretty strong. And I can't see the parcel people ever allowing a DriveCam. The only reason I ended up working again was to freeze my pension due to a divorce (and of course pay alimony/which ends shortly, thank God !). When you work at a different IBT employer, you find out pretty quickly that contract protections are pretty meaningless, as I firmly think that the IBT has utterly NO clue on how to deal with DriveCam. I have several friends that work at Sysco in the Walnut, CA. center and they all say the same thing is going on at their workplace. Trivial suspensions leading to terminations etc. We bought into the "no cell phones and seat belts thing", but now, since everyone has complied with those rules, they just want to keep ratcheting it up a notch. It's a tool to get rid of people that are viewed as "activist's". As far as getting involved in my union ? I have. I've been a steward, done the training etc. But it's time for the people we PAY dues to to step up to the proverbial plate and not act like a bunch of sheep and protect the people they supposedly work for. We pay our dues, THEY get paid very well, etc. Just like everyone else, the IBT needs to earn what we pay them.
 
That makes no sense at all! Why would the company want to give you points for something you can not control, such as a dip in the road? I can understand if your constantly setting the thing off by popping the clutch or crappy shifting and hard breaking on a regular basis, thats not taking care of the company equipment and being careless, there are some events that set the camera off that are beyond the drivers control and are harmless.

I like having the camera, I didn't like it at first but it has grown on me. What I don't like is once the thing is set off and its a downloadable event that light turns red and it is obnoxious at night, way brighter than the green light, I always see it out the corner of my eye and its a little distracting.

And we drive in California, where ALL the roads...suck. So, "bump video's" are routine. Picture driving an empty tanker on I-10 or I-5 or the 605 (People familiar with the area will know what I mean). Potholes, dips etc. are every few feet. So, it gives Big Brother an opportunity to basically see our work day (or in my case, night). And in doing so, these people who have never driven anything bigger than a Kia, get to micromanage all day.
 
And we drive in California, where ALL the roads...suck. So, "bump video's" are routine. Picture driving an empty tanker on I-10 or I-5 or the 605 (People familiar with the area will know what I mean). Potholes, dips etc. are every few feet. So, it gives Big Brother an opportunity to basically see our work day (or in my case, night). And in doing so, these people who have never driven anything bigger than a Kia, get to micromanage all day.
Well I am on your side totally when it comes to not wanting some Kia driving, pencil pushing, college educated, logistics genius, criticing my driving skills! In regards to your night work, that is the main reason I left Big Brown, but not the only reason. It took me nearly 10 years to admit it, but I hated night work. I work harder as a Teamster Carhauler, but now that I have learned my trade, I love my day job and wouldnt go back to UPS if i could. My job is what trucking is supposed to be like, in my opinion! Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, which ever applies to you!
 
I'll be honest I wouldn't mind having a camera face forward. But having a camera face the driver is a bunch of BS. Especially since it also records sound.

Banker I've looked into being a union carhauler cuz Jack Cooper isnt to far from me. Is it a good job? How much are you gone?
 
Top