DASHCAMS….Are you using them correctly??
By: Heidi O.
With the plethora of technology available to us as an entire nation, the trucking industry is adapting to using these many devices. The newest and latest craze….the ever popular Dash Cam!
Which one do I get? Which one has the longest record time? Which has the best pixel quality? Buying one of these little monster machines can leave your head spinning, but my question to most is, “Are you buying it to use it for the reason it was designed?”
The past several months I have been sitting back and watching all the ways these “dash cams” have been used in the trucking profession alone. One person is recording the goings on at the truck stop. One person is recording the storm they are DRIVING through. One person is recording their jokes WHILE DRIVING. One person is making music videos WHILE driving. And maybe, just maybe, that one person will be actually video recording the traffic that it was actually designed for.
Every day on Facebook you see so many things. All of the above are examples of these things that dash cams are being used for. Do drivers not find these devices just as dangerous to be PLAYING with as texting? Do you not know that it only takes 2 seconds for your eyes to be off the road for an accident to happen?
These dash cams were NOT designed to be telling on your fellow driver for urinating in the truck stop parking lot. They were NOT designed for you to become the next Jeff Foxworthy. They were NOT designed for anyone to become the next Blake Shelton. They definitely were NOT designed to be pointed at you!!
The dash cam is designed to HELP a driver in the case of an accident to prove that he wasn’t at fault. It was developed to HELP the drivers plead their case so that it is no longer a he said/she said kind of deal. They were developed to HELP, Period.
So, what I am trying to get across is that if you want to record your next joke or music video or even if you want to spy on the truck next door, please do it while you are SAFELY parked!! If you don’t, you are truly asking for trouble and I will stress again…YOU are no better than someone who picks up their phone and sends that two second text and has a crash….IS YOUR LIFE WORTH THAT????
Let’s please use these devices for what they were designed for and Drive Safe!!