Smile – You're on Camera!
There was a recent episode where one driver turned in another driver to his company for tailgating. The tailgating driver was caught on videotape with a dash cam. The argument was on social media as well on the radio. Should one driver snitch on another driver? One thing that I did take away from it, you never know when you're on camera. You should just assume that you are.
When I started driving I had a little phrase. Keep your log book up to date. Drive like it isn't. No one notices when a trucker drives professionally. They don't call the company and say “Wow, I drove within eyesight of your driver for 100 miles and that
driver did everything right.”. That is alright. It is our job to do everything right. We are professionals. When we drive professionally we should not expect to be noticed. In the past a driver might call out another driver on the CB and that was the end of it. That is no longer the case.
Pictures change things. The NFL has seen this recently with the video of Ray Rice punching a woman and the pictures of Adrian Petersen's child. Pictures are worth 1,000 words. All of the news stories about a starving child don't hit home nearly as much as a picture does. Word of a trucker tailgating reaching a safety director is more meaningful when accompanied by a videotape.
Many companies are installing dash cams that will videotape what the driver is doing at the time of an event. 
This make me uncomfortable, but they can be instructional. Recently, I saw a videotape of a driver involved in a rollover accident. Just before the rollover his phone rang and he reached for it. As he turned his head and reached for the phone his truck went off the roadway and hit a soft narrow shoulder and rolled. It is amazing how fast things can go horribly wrong.
It does not matter how we feel about it. These days cameras are everywhere. We should drive as if we could be caught on videotape at any moment. Not just because you might be caught on videotape at any moment, but because we are professionals.
Maybe, this new technology will improve safety. Safety technology can only marginally improve safety. Drivers improve safety. We can learn from these gadgets. My lane avoidance system showed me that when
I reach for something my truck can hit the lane line. That annoying noise coming out of my speakers is something I hated hearing. So, I stopped reaching for things. Seeing that accident where that driver “just” reached for his cell phone was eye opening.
Always drive like you're on camera, not just because you might be, but because it makes you a safer driver. These new trucks are filled with gadgets. Cameras are one of them. Outward facing cameras can cover you when you get cut off. The thought of being video taped may change the behavior of a few. We can learn lessons from the inward facing camera. It will always be up to the driver to be the ultimate safety device.