In an effort to better understand truck drivers' perspective of dash cam technology, STC Co-Director P. Sean Garney installed an industry leading dash cam in his personal vehicle. Below is his story.

In past issues, we’ve advised readers that successful implementation of in-cab technology requires gaining driver acceptance early through pilot programs using driver champions complimented by a strong educational campaign to highlight both the benefits and the limitations of the technology. Last month, we expounded on this by acknowledging drivers’ objections to in-cab technology as a challenge to the expertise they’ve earned over a career on the road. Now I’ve put these theories to the test with a personal experiment: install a cutting edge dashcam in my personal vehicle and gauge my acceptance as a person who believes himself to be a very good driver who understands the benefits and limitations of the technology.

Now it was time to begin driving safely, knowing I’m being watched and corrected in near real time. It quickly became clear from the cacophony of alerts that I was not as good of a driver as I thought. Soon my kids were imitating my new dashcam. “Rolling stop detected.” “Slow down, speed limited exceeded,” laugh. Soon I was getting so mad at the device that my family and I needed to name it, so we had someone (or in this case, something) to yell at when we disagreed with its assessment: Jeffie was born.

Intellectually, I understood what was happening and that my driving performance needed to improve. There really is no good reason to exceed the speed limit, fail to completely stop at a stop sign, or handle your cell phone while driving. Still, it was ego hit to recognize that I don’t live up to my own expectations and I found myself thankful that the only one holding me to account was Jeffie. I have a new-found empathy for those drivers who have made the same realizations and have had to reckon with a fleet manager intent on applying negative consequences for subpar performance.

Over time, I’ve grown to appreciate the new insights into my driving habits and have been tracking the slow but steady improvement in my overall safety score. It’s also very useful to know which specific behaviors are impacting my safety posture and I’ve been diligently working to eliminate poor habits. Even still, it is difficult for me, even with an intricate knowledge of how the tech works and the metrics by which I’m being evaluated, to not occasionally blame the technology and to find myself looking for flaws I can point to as proof my driving is better than reported.

For example, a few weeks ago I spent several hours traveling in rural Iowa and Minnesota on the kind of roads with few other travelers and even fewer speed limit signs. Despite having cruise control set below the established alert threshold, I was inundated with speeding warnings. Some were for exceeding the posted speed limit and others were for exceeding the “company” speed limit (which I tried to turn off and/or set to 100mph to prevent alerts, to no avail). I was frustrated. After reviewing the street view on google maps which confirmed I was not traveling 35 mph over the speed limit, as reported by the dashcam, I was personally vindicated, though my safety score didn’t seem to care much.

My instinct wanted to point to these inaccuracies as fundamental flaws indicative of the overall unreliability of the device and as proof that I am, in fact, the safe driver I believe myself to be. Intellectually, I knew this wasn’t true, but emotionally, it needed to be.

For fleet managers, I think it’s important to sympathize with this perspective and to take driver’s concerns seriously. To listen when they refute the accuracy of some events and to earnestly investigate them. While we often speak of the importance of building trust among drivers in the technology we’re deploying, it is the trust between manager and driver that may be of greater importance.

I remain committed to the value of technology and am convinced it is making me a better driver. It helps that no one is holding me accountable for my missteps except my own ego. To be sure, Jeffie is still a useful foil for me and a source of many jokes in my family. Of note, my wife now disdainfully refuses to drive under Jeffie’s watchful eye, a threat plenty of other drivers have made in the past. Now to measure the effectiveness of the educational campaign she doesn’t yet know is coming. Stay tuned.