As a driver, your first reaction might be to resist driver-facing cameras. After all, what reason could your boss possibly have to spy on you while you're behind the wheel? Well, the real reason why driver facing cameras are being used might surprise you, and we're here to shed light on some common dash cam myths.
Is Your Boss Spying on You?
To start, it's very unlikely that a company would use dash cameras to spy on their drivers. It's simply not cost effective or worth the time it would take to monitor the cameras 24/7.
TruckSpy cameras are actually equipped with a privacy mode (the camera turns off while the truck isn't moving). While the cameras do have live streaming capabilities, this feature is rarely used. When live streaming is activated, the driver receives a verbal warning so they never have to worry about being filmed without knowing.
Dash Cams Can Protect Your Company
So, are dash cams needed for insurance purposes? Surprisingly, no; the biggest reason companies are investing in them is because of accident attorneys.
Consider this: most trucking companies have a $1-2 million insurance liability maximum, but jury settlements average $22 million (and 50% of that goes to the accident attorney). That's enough to ruin a company.
More and more trucking companies are investing in driver facing dash cameras to protect themselves from being sued.
Are Road-Facing Cameras Enough?
Why not just get road-facing cameras? Well, let's say a driver was accused of texting while driving and causing an accident. A road-facing camera wouldn't do much good in proving otherwise. Plus, the attorney could turn it back around on the company and say that they could have gotten driver facing cameras and chose not to, hitting them with a huge settlement.
On the other hand– with driver facing cameras– if they do get taken to court, the best case scenario is that there will be footage to exonerate the driver from responsibility in the accident. In any case, having driver facing cameras proves that a company is managing their drivers properly.