Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/873209
30 | Overdrive | September 2017 PRIVATE EYES, WATCHING YOU and in various forms from purveyors of multi-camera systems and other related technologies around the world. The number of trucks in U.S. operations equipped with variations of such systems is at least in the tens of thousands. Fleets are benefiting from the collab- orative safety programs that more sophis- ticated video-event-capture technologies are enabling. Some bode well for insur- ance rates, but could pose complications in scheduling as the systems flag drivers who need to pull over and rest. The National Transportation Safety Board, a policy advisory group, in 2016 called for video-platform use in its annual Top Ten Most Wanted list of safety improvements. Such systems have grown in market penetration and levels of intrusion in recent years. It's no surprise that drivers often don't share carriers' enthusiasm for camera-based fatigue management. Owner-operators in large numbers have taken up forward-facing cameras, but driver-facing cameras imposed by fleets are seen as an invasion into the relative privacy of a home away from home. Others view increasingly advanced in-cab technology as either unnecessary or a direct threat to the driver's liveli- hood. "Are people becoming so stupid that we really need a monitor to tell us we're tired?" asked owner-operator Jeff Guyton. "This is all idiot technology." "The telemetry is already there on the trucks to monitor what is needed," says Jeff Wagner, commenting on Overdrive's youtube channel. "Stop sell- ing tools that are used to ruin drivers' careers and harass them when in the wrong hands. Even when these are in the hands of good people, they make some drivers feel intimidated, singled out, create a feeling of social anxiety like they are being 'watched,' feel nervous, and more likely to make a mistake." Fleets who use such technologies, and some drivers, however, sing a differ- ent tune. Fraley & Schilling driver Don Cuddeback has experience with the fleet's SmartDrive dual-camera system, which among other things triggers the event recorder when following distance is too short. The following-distance monitor, provided by another company, also deliv- ers an audible warning to the driver. "I think it helps a lot," Cuddeback says. Reviewing incidents with company personnel, he says, has helped him be more vigilant about following distance. "Though I've had 2 million-plus miles without an accident or a ticket, there's always room for improvement." Brian Kohlwes, safety vice president and chief counsel for East Dubuque, Illinois-based refrigerated hauler Hirschbach Motor Lines, calls Lytx DriveCam's ActiveVision add-on plat- form a "game-changer" regarding fatigue. With its ability to detect lane departure, track speed relative to traffic and capture video of the driver, "it allows us to be proactive" on detecting unsafe behavior, Kohlwes says. Accidents have been much less frequent at the 950-truck fleet since adopting ActiveVision in December. Fatigue specialists got a detailed look at one advanced system at the International Managing Fatigue confer- ence in San Diego last March. Mining operations in Chile and Africa are using a system from the Australian company Optalert, said Vice President Christopher Hocking. Optalert outfits truck drivers with glass- es equipped with sensors that calculate the velocity of eyelid opening and closing, as well as the duration of each closure. It rates the driver every minute, 0-10, on the Johns Drowsiness Scale, Hocking said. Drivers rating 5 or above receive an in- cab warning. While no system available in North America uses glasses like Optalert's, most other new systems offer warnings of fatigue or distraction. The more CAMERA PRESENCE IN OWNER- OPERATOR TRUCKS Road-facing cam only 44% Road- and driver-facing cameras 8% Driver-, road- and side-view system 2% Another multi-cam configuration 6% Back-up/blind-spot-assist cams 1% None 39% SIX IN 10 Overdrive readers reported in summer poll- ing that they have one or more cameras on their truck. Compared to the last time Overdrive asked a nearly identi- cal poll question in September 2016, that's nearly a 40 per- cent increase in camera prevalence. Most of that increase can be accounted for by the profusion of forward-facing cameras installed by owner-operators as a method of secu- rity and exoneration in on-highway incidents. The SmartDrive company did an analysis last year that compared groups of drivers who'd been involved in collisions versus those who had not. The collision-prone had driving profiles that were 27 percent less safe than those of the other group, based on fatigue and other performance data. The company also found that drivers who had been involved in collisions experienced 1.7 times more fatigue observations and 1.6 times more distrac- tion observations than a comparable non-collision group when measured for the 50 days leading up to the accident. FATIGUE'S EFFECT ON ACCIDENTS Are people becom- ing so stupid that we really need a monitor to tell us we're tired? This is all idiot tech - nology. – Jeff Guyton, owner-operator